| Under the initiative of the Emperor Gia Long, the "mandarin route
" (a name given to the road by the French in the 19th century), was
used by the Mandarins and high government officials to travel rapidly
from the provinces to the capitol.  From
the marsh lands of the delta of Mekong to the Sino-Vietnamese border,
this route, the veritable back bone of Vietnam, stretches out over 1000
miles and ends in the region of Lang Son.
The "mandarin route" provides an indispensable link between
the country's largest cities: Hanoi, Vinh, Hué, Danang, Natrang et Saigon.
In general, the "mandarin route" is quite narrow and full of
potholes, and there are often traffic jams at the entrances to larger
cities. A huge amount of vehicles use this road everyday; mostly trucks
and overloaded buses, with very few cars but many carts, bicycles and
motorcycles with very heavy loads, so overloaded, in fact, you wonder
how they manage to stay upright. Be careful. Very few vehicles have lights.
On the mandarin route there is no such thing as right of way. The larger
vehicle always wins.
After the rice harvest, the road is used for drying the rice, which diminishes
the room on the road for vehicles.
For those who would like to know more about the history of Vietnam,
and to find out how the Vietnamese really live, a trip on this road is
absolutely indispensable. Of course it's a lot less comfortable than a
train or a plane, but the experience is worth it. You can either buy yourself
a bus ticket, or rent a car with a driver, or even a small motorcycle.
You'll discover the vestiges of a lost civilization; the kingdom of Champa,
and also the traces left from the wars in the not so distant past. Our
advice: take your time to really get in tune with the way the locals live. |
France :