I visited Vietnam in December of 2004, which is winter and the wettest part of the year in many parts of the country.   I was there for two weeks, so I had to choose which parts of the country I would visit and which I wouldn't.   I originally planned to arrive in Saigon, head up north to Hanoi by means I hadn't determined, and then backtrack to Saigon and fly back to the United States from there.   Happily I had the good sense to change this plan at the last minute so that I arrived in Hanoi, flew first from Hanoi down to Danang and then from Danang to Cam Ranh, and then headed down to Saigon and a flight out of the country from there.   This saved me a day's travel, a flight and some lovely greenbacks, which I hope to put to good use at some point in time.

    I wasn't sure what to expect of Hanoi, but it turned out to be my favorite Vietnamese city - not that I can claim to be an expert about Vietnamese cities!   I thought that Hanoi might have been bombed to oblivion during the war, but happily this turned out to be incorrect, and there were plenty of attractions in the city itself to keep a person fully occupied for three or four days.   There are many lakes scattered around the city, making a welcome change from the bustle and grime of the city's buildings and traffic.
   Marketplaces anywhere in Asia are interesting places to visit, and Hanoi was no disappointment, with live fish and frogs on display alongside many tropical fruits which are virtually unknown in the west.   It's also well worthwhile walking randomly around the streets of the old quarter to see the different stores, usually grouped together according to the product on sale, everything from grave markers made right on the spot, to a shop specializing in Christmas decorations - not such a surprise in a country with a significant catholic minority, but still an eye-opener in a country which many westerners perceive as one of the last holdouts of old-style "godless" communism.
    There's a good amount of old architecture to see, one of the best being the Temple of Literature, which is the site of Vietnam's first university founded in 1076 by Emperor Ly Thanh Tong.   The five large courtyards contain nice gardens and lily ponds, and Chinese style gates and Confucian temple buildings contain colorful carvings of venerated teachers and gods, as well as photogenic bronze statues of cranes, and other artifacts.

    Hanoi makes an excellent jumping-off point for some of the surrounding areas.   As I already mentioned, it was pretty much the coldest part of winter, at least in the northern part of the country which begins around the old imperial city of Hue.   The travel guides made me believe that it could get quite cold at this time of year, but perhaps I was lucky, because temperatures were very pleasant and other tourists who had been up into the hill country of northern Vietnam said that it was even pleasant up there once the night-time chill had departed, with flowers and butterflies in the sunshine.   I ended up not going to any of the highland areas, either around Hanoi or in the central region, but I did make a few trips out of the city.

    Halong Bay is pretty much a must-do place to visit for people who come to this part of the country for more than a few days.   The bay contains 3000 or so strangely shaped limestone islets, as well as larger islands with small towns, and a large part of the bay has been designated as a World Heritage site by the United Nations.   Vietnam is quite poor, but this area is poor even by Vietnamese standards and the people who live on these rocky islands scratch out a living from fishing and fish farming, as you see in this photo taken at Cat Ba island.   Surprisingly, there are caves with very large chambers and caverns on some of the islands, these have been laid out and illuminated for people to visit.   Although it's possible to do day trips, it's much better to stay one or more nights on a boat.   The whole area is very photogenic, and also a good place to see marine birds like the fish eagles which constantly cruise around.

    Back on land, the town of Tam Coc is said to be "Halong Bay with rice paddies" because it has the same strangely shaped limestone "Kharst" landscape as the bay itself.   From here you can take a leisurely boat trip along a slow-flowing river and through three low-roofed caves which straddle the river.   Be prepared to be offered the chance to do some rowing yourself and to buy fruit, drinks or snacks from boat-borne vendors, or t-shirts from your own guides.   Another good day trip in the same area is the Perfume Pagoda, which again involves a rowboat ride along a river, and then if you're interested a long climb up a rocky path to a somewhat uninspiring buddhist sanctuary inside a cave.   As with Tam Coc, the boat ride is a good place to see some of the local bird life such as kingfishers, and there are all sorts of interesting butterflies and other insects along the path up the hill.   A cable-car is being built here so in the future you won't even have to put up with the walk to the top, or the vendors along the way, which are actually an interesting part of the whole experience.

   The national parks that I visited weren't particularly scenic, mostly because the trees block any views.   Cat Tien national park is between Saigon and Dalat and has a river and Crocodile Lake, which I never got to.   The river has a small set of rapids, but the whole area is fairly flat, and the river is brown with sediment, so again it doesn't make for a great photo. 

    Vietnam has lots of interesting architecture to visit.   As well as the Temple of Literature that's in Hanoi, there are quite a few buddhist temples and pagodas in that city; in fact, the buddhist temples in Hanoi seemed to be more interesting than the acclaimed temples in Saigon.   You can find small temples down narrow neighborhood streets, and there are many scattered around the countryside.   They often feature statues, carvings and paintings of ghastly looking deities, and the buildings themselves are decorated with small carvings of dragons and other creatures both real and mythical, often colorfully painted or embellished with glazed ceramics.

    One of the great centers of Vietnamese architecture is the old imperial city of Hue, about half way between Hanoi and Saigon.   The emperors built a large walled city here modelled on the Forbidden City in Beijing, but tragically much of this area of the city, called the Citadel, was destroyed when American forces retook the city during the Tet Offensive.   Most of the Citadel is still largely empty, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much did survive and how much has been restored, such as the Emperor's Reading Room, the Theater and a number of courtier's pavilions.
    The imperial tombs outside Hue are largely intact; neglect has taken its toll, but with the growing importance of tourism this is being reversed and restoration is well underway.   Several of these tombs are worth visiting, one of the largest and most ornate is the tomb of Emperor Tu Duc, whose Xung Khiem pavilion you see here.   Unfortunately the weather was very poor the whole time I was in Hue, so many of the photos I took there suffer from gloomy skies, though in the case of this pavilion it does provide a rather atmospheric misty feeling.   This was the only poor weather I experienced while in the country, unfortunately it lasted the whole time I was in Hue and the nearby Bach Ma national park.

    The town of Hoi An, not far south of Hue, is another architectural treasure.   The buildings here are not as spectacular as the large imperial structures at Hue, but the magic of Hoi An is that it's like a small slice of history which has been perfectly preserved, without war damage or modern development.   Walking the streets makes it easy to imagine life a hundred years ago or more, with old style merchants' homes and stores crowded shoulder-to-shoulder, and many temples and community meeting halls built by the various Chinese ethnic groups who lived here and continue to live here.   These temples and halls were better than any that I saw in Hanoi and Saigon.   A covered bridge built hundreds of years ago by members of the Japanese community adds to the feel of the town, which was an important trading center until the river silted up.   It would be very worthwhile to spend a few days here, if you have enough time, and you'll understand why this is also a World Heritage site.

   The Cham towers are a little known aspect of Vietnamese architecture.   The Cham Kingdom of south-central Vietnam had a Hindu culture like that of Angkor Wat across the border in present-day Cambodia.   The Cham kings ordered tall masonry and brick complexes to be built between the 7th and 12th centuries, and several of these survive.   The Po Nagar towers beside the Cai river are right in the middle of the city of Nha Trang, and well worth visiting.   It's decorated with various dancing Hindu deities and is still a venerated site for local buddhists.   The Po Klang Garai towers are some distance further south, on the road leading inland to the mountain resort town of Dalat.   These towers are in particularly good condition, and their hilltop location makes a great photo.

    My visit to Vietnam was motivated in large part by the modern history of conflict within the country.   Most of the Americans that I work with felt that I was crazy to go to such a place - it might be understandable for a military veteran to visit, but why would a regular tourist go there?   I wasn't sure whether they thought that the local people might be deeply resentful because of the war, or if it was simply that they couldn't figure out why a person would willingly vacation in a third world country which isn't plastered with golf courses!   As it is, I didn't experience any hostility at all in Vietnam because of the war.   Perhaps that's because of the "concentrate on the present" aspect of the buddhist culture, or just due to the fact that the war ended 30 years ago, and most of the population wasn't even born when it ended.

    There are several museums around the country dedicated to the American War and the insurgency against the French which preceded it.   Perhaps the largest is the Army Museum in Hanoi, which has the usual assortment of pieces from downed American aircraft, examples of many of the bombs dropped on the country, and the actual tank which famously smashed through the gates of the South Vietnamese presidential palace near the end of the war.   This place serves as a regular class trip for Vietnamese schoolchildren, and in fact a large group of 8 or 9 year olds was visiting when I was there.   They didn't chant slogans at the Capitalist Running Dog who had destroyed their peace-loving country, instead they kept shouting "hello" and waving at me, and one of their young teachers spoke to me for a few minutes - I think he was mostly interested in practising his English.

    Since I have a particular interest in military aviation, I also visited the Air Force museum, which is also in Hanoi but slightly off the beaten tourist track.   It was a great experience to see the thirty of so aircraft parked outside, as well as the displays inside the hall.   As well as the usual Russian fighter jets like the MiG 19 "Farmer" and MiG 21 "Fishbed" there were also a number of Russian helicopters which served with the communist Vietnamese air force, including the crazy looking Kamov Ka-25 "Hormone" with its contra-rotating rotors, an early model Mi-24 "Hind" gunship and the giant Mi-6 "Hook" which you see in this photo, with my driver leaning up against its rear wheel.   The "Hook" is far larger than any American helicopter, and can carry up to 120 people when in its high-density seating configuration.   The other extraordinary sight at this museum was the collection of American built aircraft which were captured at the end of the war and used for some years by the communist air force.  It's quite something to see these familiar planes marked in communist colors!

    Another location in Hanoi which should be on the visiting list for people interested in this period of history is the Hoa Lo prison, known by American airmen as the "Hanoi Hilton".   Ironically, a large part of the prison grounds has now been redeveloped and occupied by a multi-storey western hotel, which is surprising, considering that the French used the prison for many years to hold Vietnamese communists, a number of whom were executed by guillotine.   I expected that the current government would have wanted the whole place preserved for its propoganda value, but apparently mammon over-rode those considerations.   However, a few of the buildings are still preserved, with some laughable communist propaganda of the time which describes how well American prisoners were treated.   One especially intriguing exhibit is the flight suit and other personal articles of modern-day US senator and presidential hopeful John McCain.   He was shot down over Hanoi while flying an A-4 Skyhawk ground attack plane and came very close to dying from his injuries, however when the communists discovered that his father was an admiral in the US Navy they gave him special medical treatment which probably saved his life.

    If you're interested in this sort of history then you can visit some of the actual tunnel complexes near Saigon which were used by Viet Cong guerillas, as well as the demilitarized zone (DMZ) which separated North and South Vietnam and became a major battleground.   The DMZ is not too far north of Hue where I spent several days, but I didn't have the time to go there, or to any of the tunnels.

    I did, however, have a military experience of a different and totally unexpected type while I was in this area.   When I was sight-seeing in Hoi An I heard jets flying overhead and although I didn't see them, I figured that they were probably military fighter jets.   Sure enough, a Russian designed MiG 21 fighter took off using its afterburner just as I arrived at Danang airport for a flight down to Cam Ranh; ironically, both of these were major American military bases.   I figured that the authorities probably wouldn't be too pleased about people taking photos of military aircraft, but since I'm such a military aviation enthusiast I thought I'd take the risk and plead ignorant if challenged.
    Once inside the terminal and waiting for my flight, I took out my camera and large 100-400mm lens which I use at airshows.   None of the security personnel approached me, so when another MiG 21 took off I snapped off a photo through the thick dark glass.   A few minutes later we were driven out onto the tarmac in a bus to get to our aircraft, which we boarded up a set of stairs.   A military looking type in a dark green uniform was standing under the tail of the plane, but I decided that I'd just keep my camera out in plain sight and see what happened.   Again I wasn't challenged, so when another MiG taxied past I took some shots.   Another one landed and used his parachute to slow down so I took more photos, but by this time everyone else had boarded, so I went up the stairs.   Passengers were still standing in the aisles, so I stood at the top of the stairs and snapped away again.   An airline employee at the bottom of the stairs looked over his shoulder to see what I was taking photos of, and then he turned back and gave me a big grin!   Since it really isn't common to see Vietnamese military aircraft in operation, several of these photos, including the one you see here, ended up in military aviation magazines.

    What better way to balance out photos of lethal military jet fighters than with photos of Vietnamese butterflies like this Common Imperial, as well as photos of other sweet little critters?   I do a lot of wildlife photography and although I use birds as my subjects whenever I can, there are almost always more insects around than birds.   Butterflies, dragonflies and beetles are also often as attractive as any bird you're likely to come across, especially when you see a good close-up photo.

    As I mentioned earlier, I made a particular point of combining my visits to Vietnamese tourist locations with time in its national parks.   When I was near Hanoi I spent two days and a night in Cuc Phuong national park.   The amazing thing about this place is that it was opened in 1962 by none other than "Uncle Ho", in other words the communist leader Ho Chi Minh, who took time out for conservation right in the middle of the war.   During the dedication speech he said "The forest is gold - if we know how to conserve it, it will be very precious.   Destruction of the forest will lead to serious effects on both life and productivity".   Unfortunately, those who followed him haven't shown as much regard for the countryside - most of the forest standing at the end of the war has since been cut down, and right now there's talk about pushing a large road through Cuc Phuong, which would severely damage its value as a wildlife habitat.

   In the last few years I've become addicted to going out at night with a flashlight and my camera equipment, because there's often a great deal of insect and other arthropod activity happening during darkness.   Indeed, many of the creatures you see at night never make an appearance during the daytime, so it's almost like being in a totally different part of the world.   I did four or five night excursions of this type while I was in Vietnam, and came across many interesting animals, such as a palm civet, which is a small mammalian predator, as well as a number of harvestmen and a weird looking insect about 25 or 30mm long walking around on trees with a glowing rear end!

    I also came across the first wild tarantula I've ever seen - while walking down the road which runs through Bach Ma national park, I noticed a large hole in a dirt bank, lined with silk.   I found a small twig and poked the silk in a way which I hoped would resemble a struggling insect.   Within a few seconds an enormous tarantula rushed out and reared up with its fangs bared!   I like photographing spiders, but I'm not eager to touch them, so this display made me jump back quite a distance!   Nevertheless, I was able to get a few photos and although the spider soon retreated back into its lair, I was able to coax it out a few more times using the twig, and get more photos, though unfortunately only of its belly, raised legs and fangs!

    However, the most extraordinary spider I came across in Vietnam was the one in this photo, which I found during the daytime surrounded by several dozen babies in its web in Cat Tien national park.   Look closely and you'll see that apart from its unusual shape, this spider also has a transparent window in its abdomen, and looking through this window you can see eggs!   I suspect that it's giving live birth to its babies and then protecting them in its web for a period of time until they're more able to look after themselves.

I didn't let the rain at Bach Ma stop me going out at night for four or five hours, and I came away with some interesting photos of spiders, as well as the largest caterpillar I've ever seen anywhere, a full 15 centimeters long and with a very fat body.   There were also a large number of leeches, and I was bitten by these a few times, an experience I would have several more times while I was in Cat Tien national park.

    I was very lucky with this snake, for several different reasons.   By rights, I shouldn't have seen a snake in Cuc Phuong at all, since it was December and they should all have been hibernating to escape the relatively cool temperatures.   Remember that this park is in the north, near Hanoi, so it was much cooler here than further south.   Despite my best efforts, though, I didn't see any other snakes in the warmer parts of Vietnam.
    Another reason I was lucky with this snake is that we almost ran over it!   The same guy you saw in the photograph of the Russian helicopter also drove me down to Cuc Phuong, and when we were driving out of the park on the narrow access road he suddenly slammed on the brakes and became very agitated, reversing some distance at speed.   I was in the back seat, so for a while I didn't know what was happening.
    My final piece of good fortune was in the front seat, in the form of a budding 19 year-old herpetologist from Australia, who might or might not have been called Matt, depending on how good my memory is.  He was even more interested in snakes then I was, so he jumped out of the car as soon as we stopped. I followed shortly afterwards and started taking photos.   The snake wasn't too happy about me using the flash, it struck at me several times.   The road was concrete, so it didn't look too scenic, but Matt declared that this was a non-venomous python, picked up the snake and moved it over into the forest - in fact, he's still holding its tail in the photo you see above.   This provided a much more natural looking background for the photo.
   It was only when we got back to park headquarters that we found out that this wasn't a python, instead going by the tongue-twisting name of "Moellendorff's rat snake", but since rat snakes and pythons are closely related it wasn't too bad a mistake to make!