It has been a while now already since I was in Vietnam and especially with the European winter creeping around here, I can only think back on how pleasant it was travelling aorund here. Temperaturewise but also in how diverse everything here was, especially the landscape.
Vietnam has a decent balance between city life and country side and everything that there is in between. On of the cool things in the Southern part is how boats are a part of the transporting culture, just using this as a better way to move around.
In the Southern city of Vung Tau I took a boat to head back to the main capital Ho Chi Min city or Saigon (I'm still not sure what people prefer to call the city?). Travelling over the Long Tau river this was just a way more cool way of transportation than heading over there by car or train.
For some reason, boats (regardless if these are ferries or not) just have a way more relaxing kind of vibe. And it doesn't even matter how fast they are. This travel was on a fast ferry and the trip took about 2 hours in total. The cool thing as well on travelling by boat, is that you head from city centre to city centre, just as this often is by train travel. Side note, this is ofcourse because Ho Chi Min city has rivers running through the city which can be used as a docking place.
From nature and mangroves to full blown city life
The cool thing about this boat trip is that it has a bit of everything in there. When leaving, you still have some nice views on the city of Vung Tau which quickly disappears in the distance as you are gliding over the open ocean. This is in a big bay so the ride is smooth and fast and after about 30 minutes travelling over the ocean you can see the mouthing over the riverbanks which you will be travelling over.
Now this part is not habitated at all and you can can only reach this part here by boat. I read some articles about people camping in this area, but that seemed a bit too much of a mosquito fest to me, camping in a mangrove.
The vegetation also changes more throughout the boat ride heading up north as later on in the trip you can see that the trees are steading to get more palmy, but they still have their feet in the water.
Water and palmtrees might just be my most favorite combination ever :)
Bridging the rivers
Now the scenery around Ho Chi Min city is changing quite fast as there is a lot of development going on here. The good thing about is that the infrastructure is also improving around the city. A new and bigger airport is being built a bit more out of the city, which will take out a lot of air traffic which is just in the middle of the city and over peoples houses. The bad thing about this is ofcourse that some other place will be sacrificed to build an airport (yes I do understand I am part of that problem as well).
With the building of the new airport also new roads have to be built towards there and when you have so many rivers in the area, that also means needing some big bridges to cross those rivers.
What a concrete project those kinds of things are. I have no idea how this is done and how those last segments are shoved over that wide river, but I really do find this impressive pieces of engineering.
Looking a bit closer you can see that underneith the concrete deck these pieces are just hollow inside. Also you can see the next pillar already standing ready there in the water. It just needs some final building and then it will be another scary high bridge ready to use again. Crazy stuff right!
Entering the city
Further into the city you can also find other bridges but these ones are already finished. It feels a bit like the more you get out of the city, the more you see that at some day this will all be absorbed by the city as well.
Also with the industrial harbours in the back of this picture, you just know a lot is going on over here. Also...those industrial parts are surely not the most pretty part of the country, but you really need them somewhere in the background to keep everything running smooth.
The cool thing about boating here is that the river is zigzagging throughout the whole time. That means every 5 minutes you have a totally new view and a totally new part of the city dropping in. Look at these high rises viewing across the river, that would not be a bad place to live at all, right? But alreayd in the left side of the picture you can see the next big bridge again, and all of a sudden you have reached District 1 in the heart of the city and you are reading to unload the boat again.
I really think travelling by boat was a far more chill way of transportation in this region. No stress and good views. And the price? Maybe it was even cheaper than other forms of transport. For $12 you are there and with an experience richer. Good deal right?