Retired Bootham Park Hospital consultant psychiatrist BOB ADAMS visited Vietnam late last year in his latest globetrotting adventure. Here is his report...

To people from the west, the name Vietnam brings up images of war, images of grunts (American squaddies) floundering in the jungle and the horrors of napalm.

But there is also the image of the resilience of the Vietcong against the might of American firepower. Remember films like Apocalypse Now, The Deer Hunter and Platoon. Graham Greene’s novel The Quiet American, meanwhile, evokes a captivating picture of Saigon (now renamed Ho Chi Minh City) during the French war from 1945 to 1952 which preceded the doomed deployment of the US war machine from its origins in the early sixties to its final end with the fall of Saigon in 1975.

But putting aside images of war, friends who have been to Vietnam described the kind hearted, friendly nature of the Vietnamese people, who greet you with beaming smiles and go out of their way to help.

Then there is the food, with its Indonesian, Thai and Chinese influences, plus a smattering of French. There was no reason not to visit, apart from having to put up with a twelve to thirteen hour flight.

Vietnam is now ruled by a ‘flexible’ communist, one-party government. The country now rivals its northern neighbour, China, in business acumen and productivity. Its population boomed in the post war years. Scooters rule the roads, rather than the tuk tuks you get in India and Thailand. The country is now communist only in name.

We opted to organise our two-week trip the easy way by letting someone else take the strain. Holidayarchitects.co.uk were recommended and they did an excellent job arranging the whole trip bespoke, including all accommodation, transport and guides. And it all went so smoothly. Our guides were a particular inspiration. They were all well educated and full of background knowledge about the country and its history.

Our tour started in the capital, Hanoi. Although hot, it turned out to be cooler than the south - Saigon is over 1000 miles south by road. We started with a guided tour to acclimatise. First stop was a many-tiered pagoda by one of Hanoi’s lakes, then the ancient Temple of Literature, followed by Ho Chi Minh’s tomb.

The next day we were whisked off by air-conditioned car to Pù Bin, in Hòa Bin province, three hours to the west of Hanoi. We were to spend two nights at a home stay in the hills.

The experience was unforgettable. Our guide, Nam, looked after us well, accompanying us on treks through the hills to nearby villages where we were welcomed with tea while sitting cross-legged on the upper floor of ethnic Thái houses (the ground floor is reserved for storing crops, animals and, of course, the proverbial scooter).

We were made to feel so welcome and even helped to make the evening meal, consisting of pancake rolls and a salad made of fine slices from the flower of the banana tree. On the last day we were blessed by a shaman.

Then it was back to Hanoi to join the manic traffic on a vintage Vespa foodie-tour of the city. As well as sampling the delicious food we witnessed the flag-lowering ceremony at Uncle Ho’s tomb, sampled egg coffee by the railway line and ended up at a nightclub where we were fortunate enough to enjoy a performance by Vietnam’s ‘number one’ star, Le Quyen. Check her out on the internet.

Next on our itinerary was an overnight cruise to see the limestone karsts of Halong Bay – along with 700 other boats! Although we worried about our contribution to mass tourism there was plenty of room for all. We canoed around a floating village and visited a cave.

Then it was back to Hanoi to catch the overnight sleeper to Danang, nearly 500 miles south. It was a comfortable journey sleeping in our own locked cabin, so unlike Indian trains. We awoke to vistas of rice paddies changing to hills and glimpses of sandy bays and flashes of blue sea.

On arrival at Danang another guide met us for the short taxi ride to our hotel at Hoi An.

Hoi An was once a port catering to Chinese and Japanese trade, until the river silted up in the 19th century. It is now a World Heritage Site and its many ancient dwellings, temples and warehouses have been carefully preserved. Hoi An is also the place to get made-to-measure suits and shoes. We took full advantage of the bicycles available to guests at our hotel, although cycling back along the streets after dark was hair-raising.

Then we took a short flight to Saigon; the locals still use its old name. On the way to our hotel we took a thirty-mile detour to the northwest to visit the Cu Chi tunnels. Cu Chi was a major battle area in both the French and American wars. The Americans lost so many men there that they ended up carpet-bombing the whole place.

The resourcefulness and will to survive of the Vietcong was clearly displayed. They even built a tunnel under an American camp. As an ex caver I had to accept the challenge to navigate the longest tunnel open to visitors. It was very hot and claustrophobic down there and I was glad to emerge dripping with sweat, knees covered in mud, back to the safety of the jungle.

We had a day and a half to see the sites of Saigon and buy some souvenirs. The 1960s South Vietnamese ‘Independence’ Palace was a must, as well as the ‘Museum of War Remnants’. The latter was a salutatory and distressing experience witnessing the atrocities of war, including a section about Agent Orange (a defoliant containing dioxin, a chemical that causes foetal abnormalities). Some of its victims were selling hand made trinkets to visitors.

The last three nights of our memorable trip were spent at Hô Tràm, a private spa and holiday village on the coast, two hours east of Saigon. It was a good place to wind down. After the first two days we were well able to resist the urge to escape, especially after Barbara fell off her pushbike into a pile of fish that had been set out to dry along our escape route. The wonderful food, luxury accommodation and woodland groves leading to the ocean, all did the trick. The only draw back was the heat and humidity, one or two mozzies and the sand flies.

Vietnam turned out to be a fascinating place to visit. It is truly a country coming to terms with its past after decades of suffering.

Bob Adams travelled to Vietnam with holidayarchitects.co.uk/