Report of the trip in Vietnam

History:
The history of the three countries of Indochina, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam is inseparable from the history of their colonization by France from 1847 to October 1953 then from the history of the anticommunist struggle of USA until November 17, 1973. Afterwards each country has its own history under the influence of outside contributors. The Russian perestroika and the going-to-market China were not without asking some problems to Marxists leaders of these countries; however the death of the “old guard” incited to go towards the “market”. The next major step will be the setting up of democracy by the emergence of a middle class. I present this history by great periods omitting some facts which were certainly decisive. I refer net surfers to specialized books. Some parts are taken again by the conclusions of the three quoted countries.

I Origins:
Habitation of the area is attested:
-- Far back as 50000 BC limestone dwell-caves were discovered,
-- As of 10000 BC Hoabinhian civilization is discovered in north of Vietnam and on the plateau of Korat in central Thailand,
-- By 4200 BC the civilization of Ban Chiang and Ban Prasat in the North-East of Thailand was the oldest to cultivate rice, well before Chinese, and to produce bronze, better quality than Mesopotamia, thanks to the presence of tin,
-- By 2000 BC the civilization of Dong Son appeared around what will be Hanoi,
-- From 3rd to 2nd century BC at the time of Asoka the area accepted Indianan missionaries coming with merchants who diffused Buddhism of the school of Theravada – Hinayana, lesser vehicle. It was the beginning of the indianisation of the South-East Asia along the coasts towards South China. This acculturation is attested by Buddhist sculptures of Gupta influence.

-- From 1st to 6th century AD the kingdom of Funan, Chinese name, extended from Angkor Borei – current Takeo in Kampuchea to Oc-Eo in the Mekong delta –current Long Xuyen in Vietnam-. These City-States adopted the Sanskrit as liturgical language and developed a sophisticated system of channels both for culture of rice and transport of goods.
-- From 6th to 15th century AD kingdoms called Chenla by Chinese succeeded Funan and reigned in the north of the area having adopted the system of caste of India. Chinese chronicles referred to “Water Chenlan” along the coasts and “Land Chenlan” on banks of Mekong.
-- From 2nd to 15th century AD kingdom of Champa appeared on the coasts of central Vietnam stretching from Danang to Dalat. Of Indian culture it adopted Sanskrit and Indian art of Gupta influence. It was a warlike kingdom in perpetual conflict with its neighbours, Vietnam in the north and Khmer in the Mekong delta involving its disappearance.

As well as in Kampuchea and in Laos as in Vietnam powerful kingdoms succeeded these Indianan City-States affirming their individualities.

Vietnam:
-- From the 2nd BC to 10th AD 1000 years of Chinese domination. The occupation of Vietnam by China was cruel but not without counterpart. Chinese civilization impregnated Vietnam, Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism as well as the techniques of construction and irrigation.
-- In 938 AD the decline of the Chinese Tang dynasty was the occasion of Vietnam liberation,
-- From the 11th to 14th century the Ly dynasty seized the power and victoriously faced with the Chinese emperors, the Khmers and quarrelsome Champa as with the Mongols when they seized the power in China.
-- From the 15th to 17th century In 1407 China controlled Vietnam again, but for a short period. In 1428 called Loi expelled the Chinese and proclaimed emperor, the Thai To, a new dynasty had the rule.
-- From the 17th to 18th century the first division of the country between the north and the south intervened under Trinh Lords in north and Nguyen Lords in south. In 1765 the rebellion of Tay Son carried out by the three Nguyen brothers overcame Trinh Lords of the north and Nguyen Lords of the south.
-- In 1802 Nguyen Anh, survivor of Nguyen Lords, reunified the country and took the title of emperor under the name of Gia Long. This dynasty of Nguyen reigned until 1945 with Hué for capital. Be careful not to confuse Nguyen!

From 1847 to 1954, the period of colonization by France.
-- 1859 catch of Saigon
-- 1862 treaty which conceded to France the provinces of Cochinchina
-- 1872 a merchant, Jean Dupuis, invested Hanoi
-- 1883 catch of Hué
-- 1887 creation of the Indochinese Union including Kampuchea, Laos and Vietnam.

The corruption of the imperial court of Hué, the game of musical thrones by France supported the emergence of nationalism with the creation of a Marxist movement by Ho Chi Minh:
-- 1925 creation of the revolutionary League with Canton.
-- 1941 creation of the Minh Vietnamese soldier

During the Second World War and the occupation of the South-East Asia by Japanese, France of Vichy by its policy of collaboration with the “Reich” kept the administration of Indo-China thus avoiding Japanese carnage.

After the end of the WWII, France was in the incapacity to contain a thorough by Viet Minh after the massacre in Haiphong in spite of a massive assistance by American and the existence of anticommunist elements. It was an unwinnable war. It finished on May 7, 1954 by the tragedy in Dien Bien Phu.

The conference in Geneva divided Vietnam in two zones along the 17th parallel. The North was under the control of the Marxists and the South controlled by Ngo Dinh Diem.

-- April 1960 creation of the army of liberation of the south Vietnam, the Viet Cong.
-- August 1964 America intervened officially after the Gulf Tonkin incidents.
-- January 31, 1968 the Tet festival was the occasion of a power demonstration by Viet Cong involving an turning point of the American opinion accentuated by the massacre of 504 villagers in My Lai. The continuation was a succession of bombardments by the American army which ended with the signature of cease-fire in January 27, 1973, the Paris Peace Accords.

After the departure of the American army the regular army of North Vietnamese launched attacks beyond the 17th parallel to which the army of the South Vietnamese was unable to resist.

-- April 30, 1975 the fall of Saigon intervened, images of the American helicopters leaving the embassy made the tour around the world.

-- July 1976 the reunification of Vietnam was painful involving the escape of more than one half million of people of which some by the “boat people”.

II Facts:
The History of the People of Southeast Asia is cruel, for them. Their liberation intervened in the middle of the 20th century:
-- Singapore with its charismatic leader and Malaysia with the period known as “Emergency” struggled the Marxism effectively. Thailand, in spite of fatal student's insurrections, could wipe out Communism by the alternation of civil and military power. Indo-China could not avoid this political adventure in spite of two bloody wars.
-- Singapore whose only natural resource is its hard labour, Malaysia with its natural resources and its religious “submission”, and Thailand educated in Oxford and Buddhist became major economic powers. Indo-China still thwarted by Marxist leading elite has difficulties to take off, in particular Laos.
-- Singapore, in Malaysia and in Thailand democracy is a tangible reality, certainly with nuances. In Indo-China democracy remains a far-off future; let us leave time to time, let us avoid an external intervention of “cow-boys” directed by a “born again”.

Ideas of “intellectuals” are sometimes a calamity for people when they are recovered with fine policies. They have a historical responsibility, moreover Althusser in drew the conclusions.
Compared history of the countries of the South-East Asia would owe attracted historians of any obedience: The Malaysian peninsula of British ex-colony, Thailand never colonized and Indo-China French ex-colony.

Vietnam:
It has a S-shape whose the central part has 50 Kilometres wide. It resembles the bamboo pole carried by the women going to a market. The baskets are the plains of the Rouge River Delta in the north and Mekong Delta in the south. Its surface is equivalent to that of Italy for a population of 84 million inhabitants.

The population is composed:
-- 90% of Viet
-- ?% of Chinese coming from Hainan and Canton
-- 1 million Khmers in the Mekong delta, ex province of the kingdom of Angkor -- 100000 to 200000 Chams living on the coast from Danang to Phan Rang
-- +5 million Montagnards, ethnic minorities divided into 50 groups living in the mountains of North Vietnam coming from the south of China.
The Vietnamese practice the religious trilogy of the Chinese, Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. But it is the Confucianism with its social hierarchy which impregnates more the Vietnamese life.
But there is also:
-- Cao Daism, religion created in 1920 practiced by approximately 2 million Vietnamese’s,
-- Catholicism practiced by approximately 10% of the population mainly in the south,
-- Islam practiced by most of Chams converted by the merchants,
-- Hinduism originally practiced by Chams.

Originally the economy was directed towards production and export, of rubber, tin and timber. Marxist Vietnam collectivized the economy in the north then in the south after the reunification. Changes occurred both in the USSR and in China and the failure of collectivization encouraged the leaders to instil the market economy.
-- 1986 reform economy,
-- 1991 Introduction of the market economy,
-- 1995 member of the ASEAN,
-- 2006 member of WTO.
Like its powerful neighbour, China, the Vietnamese government understood that the public works put the economy. Everywhere in the country they are public constructions, bridges, tunnels, roads and buildings. Vietnam produces more cement than its ex-colonizer France. During the last decade the average rate of growth was 8%. It snatched from Thailand the first place of rice exporting.
The paradox of Vietnam is the assertion of Communism, only 3 million members, but the economy is a capitalist. How long the put hand of the single party will last, knowing that the economy is in the hands of the middle class. Moreover minorities and the peasants start to appear.

GPS tracklog of the trip in Vietnam

I Team:
No change, MAN truck and its Guy driver.
II Journey:
The planed trip was modified to take into account the duration of thirty-day visa minus two-day stop in Moc Bai..
2.1 the tour:
The journey was directed by the visit of the ethnic minorities due to I had already visited Vietnam in February 1994. It was a challenge to do it in 28 days from the south to the north. Some days I left as of early dawn. A good plan would be to visit it twice, from Kampuchea to the south and from Laos to the north.
2.2 The road network:
The road network is relatively dense. Along the coast the QL1A and in the west the QL14 have a good surface coating but sometimes degraded by heavy trucks. The roads are with tolls as well as tunnels and sometimes of bridges. In the North-West and the North-East, mountainous zone, the roads can be under work and sometimes out of ground. Some roads TL – Tinh Lô, provincial road were of better quality that the QL. – Quôc Lô, national road. Indication is readable, as well milestones as signposts. The percentage of slope is sometimes given with a remarkable precision, for example 5.83%! There are often speed reducers at the entry of towns and villages. The roadside was sometimes occupied by privative building materials.
2.3 Cambodian drivers:
The traffic of private cars was still not very important out of the cities. The motorbikes were most frequent and by accordion effect on bad roads they drove in convoy; they were dangerous because of hazardous over crossings. Local trucks of public works are also dangerous too because of their excessive speed and their schemes, I made the bitter experiment of it.
2.4 The insurance of the vehicle:
I did not have an insurance of the truck.
2.5 Various facts:
On nearly 5,000 kilometres I attended no road accident.
III bivouacs:
As everywhere else bivouacs were easy to find in open country where on the coasts but not in mountains. Downtown it was often a stroke of luck. I did not encounter any problem of safety. The table of menu Campsite-position gives waypoints of all my bivouacs as well as mileage between each stage.
IV Supplies of food:
As in the other countries I lunched on the way at “COM Pho” or in cities. “Markets” offer all the essential foodstuffs; fruits are abundant. Information page gives some prices.
V Fluids:
The diesel is present in all service stations. Water is normally available in the service stations.
VI Money:
All banks have ATM accepting a Visa card, very often Master Card but seldom AMEX. HSBC bank was not present in Saigon and Hanoi.
VII Guides:
I never took of guide to visit sites. I had Lonely Planet guide book.
VIII Passport, visa, border crossing:
The entry Vietnam is subordinate to preliminary obtaining a visa which is normally 30 days, but some travellers obtained 60 days.
The Carnet de Passage en Douane is not recognized by Vietnam. Associations of campervans-drivers should make an action near the Federation of the Automobile Clubs for its acceptance.
Border crossing is presented by the Information page.
IX My appreciation:
9.1 I liked:
-- The welcoming of the ethnic minorities, Montagnards, Hill tribes, their courtesy, their discretion.
Of course locations of interest
- Civilization of the Champa kingdom, Hoi An town, the citadel of Hué and others.
9.2 I hated:
-- Make money behaviour of Vietnamese. For example at toll gates on the road the employee did not give the exact account of the currency. As I counted in front of him (she), I received the complement missing at once. Foreigners’ swindle is systematic. Even at the market the prices were increased, I was to negotiate.
-- One should not especially ask road a motorbike-driver, either he proposes to take along to you or he gives erroneous information.
-- I have sometimes hated the road administration,
- English is practiced only by little people.
X Relevance of this trip by camper:
As I mentioned above the road network is in general of good quality except some roads in the north of the country. The classical motor homes can travel everywhere in so far as the overhang, angle of escape, is not excessive and that the load index of the tyres matches at least to the weight of the vehicle.