283
THE HKBRAS TRIP TO VIETNAM BETWEEN 30 SEPTEMBER AND 6 OCTOBER 2000
CRYSTAL TANG
To take advantage of the two holidays, the Royal Asiatic Society's all overseas visit took place from September 30 to October 6, 2000 to Central Vietnam. Under the leadership of Dr. Patrick Hase, there were 20 of us in total; we started off our trip in the cosmopolitan south - Ho Chi Minh City. Saigon, the former capital of South Vietnam until 1975, when it collapsed along with the anti-communist resistance struggle, now bears the name of Ho Chi Minh City,
We stayed overnight at the Renaissance Riverside Hotel facing the beautiful Saigon River. Everyone in the group had a superb view from their rooms. Ho Chi Minh City is definitely a city on the move with its throngs of scooters, cycles, bicycles and cars running endlessly on the streets even at midnight. What an experience to cross the street there - you take your life into your own hands, it's entirely up to the pedestrian to avoid the traffic, not the other way round. According to the vice chairman of the Road Transport Administration of Vietnam, Mr. Nguyen Manh Hung, "traffic accidents are a bigger threat in Vietnam than the AIDS virus". I'm glad I came back to Hong Kong alive.
After dinner, I strolled along the streets near our Hotel. In a sense the French presence remains, lingering not only in the minds of the older generation but physically in the legacy of the colonial architecture and the long tree-lined avenues, streets and highways they left behind.
The next day we arrived in Hue. Hue is one of the few ancient capital cities of the world that maintains today a cultural heritage of national and international importance. On making Hue the capital of Vietnam early in the 19th century, the Nguyen dynasty (1802-1945) constructed here a complete urban complex in which the Perfume River played a vital role. Fortifications and palaces, where the Court held office and the Royal family lived, are built on the north bank of the river. Here exist three walled enclosures and hundreds of palaces and buildings. UNESCO declared these monuments in Hue World Cultural Heritage sites in 1993.
283
THE HKBRAS TRIP TO VIETNAM BETWEEN 30 SEPTEMBER AND 6 OCTOBER 2000
CRYSTAL TANG
To take advantage of the two holidays, the Royal Asiatic Society's all overseas visit took place from September 30 to October 6, 2000 to Central Vietnam. Under the leadership of Dr. Patrick Hase, there were 20 of us in total; we started off our trip in the cosmopolitan south - Ho Chi Minh City. Saigon, the former capital of South Vietnam until 1975, when it collapsed along with the anti-communist resistance struggle, now bears the name of Ho Chi Minh City,
We stayed overnight at the Renaissance Riverside Hotel facing the beautiful Saigon River. Everyone in the group had a superb view from their rooms. Ho Chi Minh City is definitely a city on the move with its throngs of scooters, cycles, bicycles and cars running endlessly on the streets even at midnight. What an experience to cross the street there - you take your life into your own hands, it's entirely up to the pedestrian to avoid the traffic, not the other way round. According to the vice chairman of the Road Transport Administration of Vietnam, Mr. Nguyen Manh Hung, "traffic accidents are a bigger threat in Viet- nam than the AIDS virus". I'm glad I came back to Hong Kong alive.
After dinner, I strolled along the streets near our Hotel. In a sense the French presence remains, lingering not only in the minds of the older generation but physically in the legacy of the colonial architec- ture and the long tree-lined avenues, streets and highways they left behind.
The next day we arrived in Hue. Hue is one of the few ancient capital cities of the world that maintains today a cultural heritage of national and international importance. On making Hue the capital of Vietnam early in the 19th century, the Nguyen dynasty (1802-1945) constructed here a complete urban complex in which the Perfume River played a vital role. Fortifications and palaces, where the Court held office and the Royal family lived, are built on the north bank of the river. Here exist three walled enclosures and hundreds of palaces and buildings. UNESCO declared these monuments in Hue World Cultural Heritage sites in 1993.
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