I visited Vietnam during the Tet Holiday season. Tet is like Christmas or Thanksgiving in the US. Everyone wants to get out and visit family. Lot of travel by the Vietnamese. I didn't do a whole lot of travel planning before getting there. As a result my first choice for transport, the train system, was largely not available. Most of my travel plans involved "sleeping buses" and river boat transport on the Mekong River.

My trip started with flight from Siem Reap Cambodia to Da Nang Vietnam . My departure was delayed one day because I didn't check the visa requirements to get into Vietnam, assumed I could get a visa upon entry at the airport. Had to wait a day and make application online. A seven day trip now became a 6 day trip. From Da Nang I headed north by train to Hue. South from Hue via sleeper bus to Nha Trang where I scuba dived off the coast. Another night on the sleeper bus to Saigon and then took two days to travel up the Mekong River by boat to Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Vietnam is a very busy country. I thought Cambodia had a lot of scooters......this country's transportation must be focused on scooter travel. Very few cars and little public transport with buses, trams or subways. Everybody in moving around on a 125 cc Honda's or walking. Instead of taxis most of my travels within cities were on the back of one of these scooters with an experienced "cabbie", or whatever they are called in Vietnam. At times I just shut my eyes.

The only sign that I was in a Communist country was the flag with a red background and yellow star in the middle. I remember this a the "north" Vietnam flag of my youth. Today it is often flown with the Communist Party of Vietnam flag, a red background and yellow hammer and cycle. Also, in most shops you'd find a picture of Ho Chi Minh displayed.

My time on the Mekong River was most interesting. I visited a floating market, rice factory, honey operation, coconut candy factory, rice noodle factory and took a ride on a small wooden boat up a side stream.