A TRIP ROUTE
INTERESTING STORIES
Kazimierz Kwiatkowski was a Polish architect and conservator of monuments, who led the restoration work in Vietnam from 1981 until his death in 1997. His activities were a response to an appeal issued by UNESCO to help rebuild and preserve Vietnamese monuments destroyed by the war. Kwiatkowski is one of the few foreigners commemorated with a monument in Vietnam. Commemorative plaques dedicated to him are located in the Purple Forbidden City in Hue and in the Czami religious sanctuary in My Son. In 2007, a monument to Kazimierz Kwiatkowski, considered here as a providential man, was unveiled in Hoi An, who saved the historic complex from liquidation and contributed to the city's success. It is he who is credited with the fact that the old town of Hoi An was entered in the register of UNESCO World Heritage monuments. The author of the monument, which is located on Tran Phu Street, is the Vietnamese sculptor Pham Hong.IT IS WORTH SEEING
Vietnam, for obvious reasons, has appeared in Hollywood productions more than any other country in the region. The first film about Vietnam was the 1932 melodrama with Clark Gable, Red Dust, while both versions of Quiet American, starring Audie Murphy and Michael Cain, focused on politics and ethics. There are tons of war movies about Vietnam, with the allegorical 'Apocalypse Now' by Francis Ford Coppola from 1979 and the realistic 'Pluto' by Oliver Stone from 1986. Stone's film is the director's personal account of the war in Vietnam, which won four Oscars. The protagonist of the film is a young American soldier who, while serving in Vietnam, notices that it is more difficult than fighting on the battlefield to deal with yourself and your own weaknesses. Outside of Hollywood a nostalgic picture of the life of the colonial elite of Vietnam 'Indochina' and a film by the French-Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung `A rickshaw driver` that realistically presents the dark and gloomy side of life in the modern city of Ho Chi Minh City.IT IS WORTH KNOWING
The first Vietnamese in Poland were students who studied at universities in the 1960s. In the years 1971-73 over 800 Vietnamese studied in Poland, which was related to the war that was ongoing in this country, when the countries of the Soviet bloc joined the relief efforts. The settlement increased after 1989, when, due to the opening of the borders of the German Democratic Republic, a wave of migrations of the Vietnamese came to Poland from the west, who stayed there as contract workers of the communist authorities. Today, Poland is the third center of Vietnamese immigration in Europe, after France and Germany. The Vietnamese are one of the largest groups of foreigners interested in staying in our country, and their number is estimated at around 40,000. They mostly settle in Warsaw, Szczecin, Łódź, Poznań, Krakow and Katowice. The Vietnamese diaspora is well organized in Poland, it has its own political organizations, associations, newspapers, schools, kindergartens, and is planning to build its pagoda, although many Vietnamese have converted to Catholicism.November 2017
I flew to Vietnam by charter with Rainbow. This has its advantages, because the dreamliner flight is direct and you do not waste time waiting for the next connection. The disadvantage is that you have to adjust to the date of the flight and the period of stay, which is not always enough to see everything.
Late autumn is a great time to visit Vietnam, although the weather was not quite good for me. However, I can speak of luck in misfortune, because a typhoon had passed through the central part of the country a few days before my arrival. Tourists from Poland I met at the bar told me that during their stay in the city of Hoi An they were cut off by the water and had to be evacuated by boats. This could be considered an element that added spice to the stay, were it not for the fact that they saw nothing. My decision on the choice of places to visit was right, and the only thing I regret is that I did not have enough time to visit the picturesque Sapa.Saigon
Renamed as Ho Chi Minh City, Saigon is today the largest city in Vietnam. The former capital of the French Cochinchina is full of trendy restaurants, shopping malls and luxurious buildings from the colonial times, but I was most captivated by the traditional temples in the Chinese district of Cholon and the Jade Emperor Pagoda. Although apparently similar to each other, each of them has some original architectural element.
Cao Dai Temple and Cu Chi Tunnels
The greatest attraction of the religion established in 1926 is the Great Cao Dai Temple, whose fabulously colorful interior and prayers made an amazing impression on me. On the other hand, a visit to the hundreds of kilometers of Cu Chi tunnels from the Vietnam War was an instructive history lesson. Although the sightseeing was interrupted by a heavy downpour, I managed to test several dozen meters through narrow and winding corridors, which turned out to be an extremely exhausting task.
Mekong Delta
When choosing a trip to the Mekong delta, I decided on the one-day option, which turned out to be the right decision. A boat trip on an exotic river is an extraordinary experience for a European, but if it lasts a few hours, it becomes boring. Fortunately, the schedule of the trip included a cruise on the Mekong River and a sightseeing walk around the islands of Unicorn, Phoenix and Turtle. The most exciting for me was the visit to the crocodile farm on Con Phung island.
Hue
The former imperial capital of Hue has so much to offer that the two days I spent visiting turned out to be insufficient. I was most impressed by the Citadel, entered on the UNESCO list, from the beginning of the 19th century. The Purple Forbidden City within it was strangely similar to the one in Beijing. The cruise on the Perfume River was also an unforgettable experience, especially when I realized that I was the only passenger of a large ship.
Hoi An
Located in central Vietnam, Hoi An is one of the most beautiful places in the country. This historic city, entered on the Unesco List, made an amazing impression on me. The eclectic cityscape is shaped by traditional pipe houses, Chinese pagodas and assembly houses as well as ancestral temples. However, at night, thanks to the ubiquitous, multi-colored lanterns, Hoi An turns into a wonderful, fairy-tale place where everyone can find something for themselves.
My Son and Da Nang
My Son, a Unesco-listed Chams religious center, disappointed me a bit. Situated at the foot of Mount Hon Quap, the complex of Hindu temples enjoyed its heyday between the 4th and 15th centuries. Few of it has survived to our times, mainly due to the US bombing of the Vietnam War in the last century. Numerous bomb craters and piles of rubble from destroyed temples made a depressing impression on me.
Hanoi
Located in the Hanoi Red River delta, it is one of the oldest and most beautiful capitals in Southeast Asia. Despite the war damage, it has many monuments and magnificent colonial architecture. There is a special atmosphere in the Old Quarter, where each street specializes in one type of product. It has its own unique charm, but a few hours walk along the bustling streets gave me a headache.
Ha Long Bay
It so unfortunately happened that during the trip to the greatest attraction of Vietnam, Ha Long bay, the weather was not good. However, it was difficult to complain, because the bay, entered on the UNESCO list, makes an electrifying impression. When buying a trip at a local travel agency, I decided to go on a full-day cruise with a stop on two islands and visiting the Cave of Amazement. The more expensive option was worth the price, because the views were so fantastic that they simply knocked you off your feet.
Fragrant Pagoda
On my last day in Vietnam, I visited the Fragrant Pagoda. Located near Hanoi, this complex of Buddhist temples is a traditional pilgrimage destination. A boat ride on the sleepy Suoi Yen River, among green rice fields and hills resembling an elephant's head, was a unique experience. However, I reached the Huong Tich grotto by a cable car, whose picturesque route leads over the tops of trees growing on the surrounding hills.