Vietnam surprises by its economic dynamism. Since 2000, growth, driven by international trade and foreign investment, has been particularly strong. The country is changing as we can see. The great towers, totems of modernity, are emerging and multiplying in the rapidly expanding cities. The middle class is getting stronger every day, imposing new consumption patterns. Foreign visitors are flocking in ever-increasing numbers. The beauty of the canonical sites - Along Bay, Hue, the former imperial capital, the old town of Hoi An - is well known. But Vietnam is above all an extraordinary diversity, a kind of Russian doll where other worlds never stop revealing themselves to those guided by curiosity and the desire to discover.
The Bac Ha market
Perched at an altitude of 700 m, a few hours' walk from the Chinese border, the village of Bac Ha is an outpost of the Great North of Vietnam. The Sunday market is the meeting point for the many ethnic minorities living in isolated hamlets who cling to the slopes of the surrounding mountains. Leaving before sunrise, the small groups walked along steep and winding paths, as loaded or even more so than their little pack horses, which had bags of grain, a black pig trapped in a braided bamboo basket or a huge bottle of rice alcohol enough to intoxicate several villages. The dawn on Bac Ha reveals the effervescence of the market, the variety of costumes that identify minorities, the exotic breeds of animals - dogs, horses, goats, buffaloes and poultry - characteristic of the land and particularly harsh living conditions, the essential and frugal aspect of the objects summarily presented for sale - pickaxe irons, ploughshares, electric lamps, batteries. Markets in these mountainous regions have both an economic and a social function. They provide supplies, exchange information for the week or two weeks and, above all, they represent an opportunity for young people and girls to meet each other and break away from the loneliness of high-altitude farms. Bac Ha is an ideal base camp for organizing hikes to discover the markets in the surrounding valleys. Each of them is a small universe, with its landscape and its frequentation which give it its particular character. They are held according to a rhythm determined by the lunar calendar and one should not confuse the day of the Serpent and the day of the Monkey... Bac Ha also has a palace, a remnant of the days when opium financed French colonization and when some clan leaders, enriched by arms trafficking and poppy cultivation, carved fiefdoms in these uncontrolled regions
The stone plateau
The tracks used by the caravans of the former traffickers are now driveable. Along the ridge lines topped with pine forests, they wind through magnificent landscapes that soften in the valleys shaped by the rice terraces. At the beginning of autumn, at harvest time, they are tinged with magnificent colours and welcome the troop of harvesters. Notice to photographers! Northeast of Bac Ha, the road leads to Ha Giang province and the karst plateau of Dong Van, which is on UNESCO's list of World Geoparks. Located at an altitude of between 1,400 and 1,600 m, this region offers sublime landscapes. The peaks of a thousand mountains undulate in a sea of clouds and fade towards the border of a legendary China. On steep slopes, bristling with sharp rocks, minorities cling to the smallest parcel of land on which they plant a few ears of corn, grown with the care that a city dweller gives to an ornamental plant, and which will ensure family subsistence.
As in Bac Ha, the "stone plateau" is ideal for hiking. The hours of walking in this land outside the world, both mineral and celestial, will forge unforgettable memories. Life, incredibly harsh, clings to the peaks and nestles in the crevices, but it is nevertheless of exceptional richness when we count at least 17 ethnic groups established on the plateau: Hmông, Dao, Tây, Lô Lô... Each of them has preserved the specificities of a custom that can be observed in a garment, a piece of jewellery, a hairstyle or the architecture of a residence
To the southwest of the plateau, the villages of Nam Dam, inhabited by the Dao, and Lung Tam, inhabited by the Hmông, welcome foreign visitors as part of a community development project. The possibility of staying in a traditional house offers a rare window to share and discover ancestral lifestyles and knowledge
The sampaniers of the Tam Giang lagoon
In central Vietnam, not far from Hue, the former imperial capital, the Tam Giang lagoon, at the mouth of the Perfume River, is an original ecosystem that is ideal for fishing and aquaculture. It is the domain of the sampaniers, a semi-nomadic "floating people", whose life flows along the water. In this place too, the pulse of an atypical universe, on the fringes of the world, is beating. Fishermen's families grant hospitality to visitors. Exploration begins by bicycle, randomly along the small roads along the lagoon. We breathe the air from the open sea, we cross the villages where the nets dry in the front and we look towards the distant horizons of the East Sea which bathes the Vietnamese coasts. The lagoon is established as a parenthesis between land and sea, which mixes fresh and salt water and where a great biodiversity flourishes. Hundreds of bamboos are planted on the water, forming a structure that traps fish and shellfish. The eye also loses itself in the play of reflections and light that causes the blond stems of bamboo to wave on the surface of the waves. In the early morning, when the dawn appears with pink fingers, we board to go to the floating market where the lagoon's quivering riches are exposed
The sweets of the South
A few hours drive from Ho Chi Minh City, the bustling metropolis of the South, the atmosphere of the Mekong Delta. Another unique universe in Vietnamese diversity. The writer Son Nam refers to him as "the civilization of canals and arroyos". Nestled in orchards and coconut groves, guest houses accommodate visitors. A bicycle invites you for a ride. Monkey bridges cross the canals. The white walls of a Khmer style pagoda radiate under the palms. The itinerary in the Mekong Delta can lead to the city of Cân Tho, close to the floating markets that are one of the region's attractions
Some 80 nautical miles from the coast of southern Vietnam, the Côn Dao archipelago (or Poulo Condor) is a natural sanctuary that is still unknown, although in 2010 it was used as a backdrop for the reality TV show Koh-Lanta. It can be accessed by air from Cân Tho or Ho Chi Minh City airports. During colonial times, the French had transformed these islets into a prison colony
Today, there are luxurious hotels set in a magnificent setting. Luxury, calm and delight on the fine sandy beaches, adventure and exploration when visiting the natural park rich in its primitive forests. The waters of the archipelago are also home to an exceptional fauna: the dugong, a marine mammal of the sirenian order, which is said to sing, and several rare species of turtles. Between April and November, the authorities of the Côn Dao Natural Park organize excursions to certain islets of the archipelago, which allow you to watch green turtles lay their eggs
Smart info
When? When? You can travel to Vietnam all year round. However, spring (late March to late May) appears to be a privileged time when the weather is good throughout the country. Between September and mid-October, the mountainous northern regions offer photographers superb colours. Some precautions to be taken during the monsoon season (July-August in the North and until November in the Centre), with the risk of flooding, as well as during the Têt (lunar new year), a period during which the country slows down.
Getting there. Direction Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City
Find your flight at the best price - Compare
Useful. To prepare your trip as well as possible.
RUES D'ASIE - More information on the website
Book your hotel at the best conditions - Compare
Find a cultural or sporting activity - Find
