Bannana in Vietnam: Unified and Resilient

This tenth "Bannana book" takes the reader along in my first exploration of Vietnam, a country I declined to visit with a gun in my hand when faced with that prospect in 1971, upon graduation from college. I was curious to see contemporary, modern Vietnam from the perspective of the Philippines, the country that did introduce me to Asia in 1971. My three week trip was informed by videos I had watched and Vietnamese students that I met at a Malaysian business competition (that they won) in 2018. With that background I planned and followed my own itinerary (unlike in my recent trip to China, where a travel company made most of the arrangements) visiting popular sites beginning in Hanoi, in the north (Hanoi, Ha Long Bay, SaPa), traveling by sleeper bus and train to central Vietnam (Hue, Hoi An), and flying, finally, to south Vietnam (Can Tho, Ho Chi Minh), before returning to the Philippines from Ho Chi Minh City. The book describes numerous interactions with Vietnamese and foreigners, visits to numerous museums and historical sites, and the sampling of world-famous Vietnamese cuisine, documenting them with numerous photos, hopefully providing the reader with an enjoyable and informative journey through a country that deserves the world's attention. Motorcycles and crutches provided essential mobility, as I faced the challenge of navigating the country while still not fully recovered from a motorcycle accident in the Philippines. Sufice it to say that additional drama was added to my story by this dynamic. Read more