Liberation Day

Our latest trip to Vietnam happens to co-incide with Liberation Day - an annual public holiday celebrating the the surrender of Saigon in 1975 to the North Vietnamese army.

Vietnam's a colourful place at any time of the year but today everyone's painting the town red. On the road into Hoi-An from Danang, every single house, shop or tin-roofed shack has a red flag sporting a yellow star outside its door.



Earlier in the month. many cities and provinces will have had their own special commemoration of the day they were individually 'Liberated' but the 30th is a countrywide rememberance.

As liberation day falls on a Saturday this year, and International Labour day is directly after it on the Sunday, both Monday and Tuesday are taken as holidays in lieu - but only for people in government posts.

With this in mind, it's difficult to say how much the public celebrations are a true display of national pride and how much they are simply a reflection of the Party's desire to remind everyone 'who won the war'. Thirty years on there are some that would argue that the country is still divided North to South. For many, the end of the war was not as liberating as it might have been. There are plenty of cyclo drivers in Saigon scraping a living in spite of having a tertiary level education and more than a handful of former landowners now making ends meet selling lottery tickets; all because they were on the wrong side in the war. In a country supposedly governed by communist ideals of egalitarianism it would appear that some are more equal than others.

For a new generation the war has achieved almost mythical status and holds no real day-to-day relevance to their lives. However the scenes are replayed by the party propaganda machine at regular intervals lest anyone forget, particularly the one in which the North Vietnamese tank crashes through the gates of the American Embassy. It also lives on in a more bizarre form as one of the most popular games on the internet here - 'HeliAttack' - in which the player has to shoot as many helicopters out of the sky as possible.

Cafe des Amis - Hoi An

Mr Kim used to be chef to the top brass of the South Vietnamese army. Not great credentials to have on your CV post 'Liberation Day'.

As the eldest son he stayed behind when the rest of his family (including 15 brothers and sisters) fled the country in '75 - someone had to stay behind to look after the tombs of the family's ancestors.

After 15 years of keeping a low profile he opened his restaurant in the early 90s around the same time that the country opened its doors to the outside world. The choice of Hoi-An, a UNESCO World Heritage site half way between North and South, guaranteed a steady stream of visitors to his restaurant.

The only choice on the menu is between Vegetarian or Seafood. Having made that important decision you are treated to a series of gastronomic delights that are apparently never repeated within a 22 day cycle. The last time we ate at Mr. Kim's we enjoyed 'White Rose', Scallops in their shells, Squid and vegetable salad, and skate (Mr. Kim said it was Sting Ray but it looked a lot like skate). The quality and variety are possibly two good reasons why Michael Caine was a frequent visitor during the filming of Graham Greene's, 'The Quiet American' . Hoi-An was the picturesque backdrop standing in for colonial Saigon in a number of the scenes from the film.

From the name of the restaurant, 'Cafe des Amis' to the lilting sounds of Piaff playing in the background, it's clear that Mr. Kim is a francophile. What better place for the cast and film crew to soak up the atmosphere of a bygone age.

Don't get taken for a ride in Nha Trang

I'd been forewarned, so felt quite prepared as we crossed the road from the Sailing Club to start the short walk home to our hotel last night. Sure enough, on almost every street corner there was a small cluster of girls intent on persuading you onto the back of a motorcycle to be whisked away for a 'massage'.

We negotiated this gauntlet with relative ease. My travelling companion, having lengthened his stride and speed almost from the off, was now accelerating in the direction of the fluorescent sign of our hotel leaving me trailing in his wake.

In the yawning gap between us, a motorbike carrying a man and a woman sidled up to me; the young lady hopped off and within seconds had her arms wrapped around me in what I suspect she thought was an irresistibly enticing manner. While she rattled off a menu of services that would be available to me within a minute's ride, I did my best to disentangle myself from her wandering hands. Up until this point I had kept my gaze steadfastly on my destination and my friend's receding figure. As I raised my arms to further distance myself from the situation - and her grasp - I turned to look at my erstwhile temptress. I was taken aback to find that she was a 'He' in a wig and a skirt and not particularly convincing. My surprise must have shown; in an instant her ardour evaporated and she was back on the bike muttering something along the lines of, 'you don't know what you're missing'. I was to find out later.

I caught up with my friend and after thanking him for not coming to my rescue, relayed the events as I had seen them. I gave full weight to my own ability to spot a 'lady boy' when I see one and nevertheless marvelled at how anyone - even someone without my ability to spot a misplaced Adam's Apple - could possibly be persuaded to succumb to such crass advances.

With his/her parting words still echoing down the street I stuck my hand in my pocket to retrieve my room key, only to find that all the dollars I had been carrying in both pockets of my trousers had disappeared. Thankfully I still had my room key, and thoughtfully, a few low denomination Vietnamese notes. A tart with a heart, after all - and much more besides.

To be fair, the lonely planet's advice in it's chapter on Nha Trang says that it's generally a safe place but they have heard reports of people being robbed after dark on the beach and the immediate beach road 'D Tran Phu'. I guess I was just unlucky.

It's different for girls

The Ao Dai (pronounced 'Ow Zye' or 'Ow Yie' depending on which part of Vietnam you're in) is more than the national dress - it's the school uniform.



For girls between 16-18 in the last three years of high school, a white Ao Dai signals their student status. The boys, meanwhile, continue with the blue trousers, white shirt and red neck scarf that is the unisex uniform from primary school.



At University, the white Ao Dai changes to colour - each seat of learning having its own distinctive shade. however, by this stage, girls are only expected to wear it on the first day of the week.



Women of all ages throughout Vietnam still wear the Ao Dai, but it is arguably the commonplace use of it as a school uniform that will maintain its elegant lines into the future and ensure it doesn't become simply a museum piece like so many other countries' national costumes.