Vietnam. That was the subject of our September talk and the name still conjures up dark, tragic images of the conflict in the 1970s. But Frances Middleton was taking us with her on a Traidcraft holiday in 2012 and from the moment the group landed in Hanoi the screen dazzled with the bright colours of a peaceful Asian country. At first we had the usual pictures of impressive buildings such as the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, the Reunification Palace and a remnant or two of French colonial architecture but we quickly moved to the countryside where ordinary people in their traditional conical hats and brightly coloured clothing supplemented their livelihood by making palm frond bags and mats, lacquered bowls, ornaments from recycled materials and so forth. Traidcraft has been a Fair Trade company for 30 years and the tour was intended to emphasise local crafts made in the villages and so for some of the time the group stayed with the villagers in their bamboo houses. This was a stimulating change from the normal tourist hotels and they had an even greater “hands on” experience when, in Hoi An village, they were invited to cook a meal for themselves, starting with a visit to the local market to purchase strange looking fish and unfamiliar vegetables which they cooked up into a very tasty meal, said Frances. But then they returned to the more traditional tourist trail with trips to the beach and sailing around some startling, pudding shaped islands. There were visits to Hue, an ancient imperial capital, and to a very modern Ho Chi Minh City of eight million inhabitants and almost as many motor bikes.
A holiday destination for your list!
George Jeffries