I am not sure why I decided to go to Vinh, but when I arrived to a deserted city just after midnight I have to say I was questioning my choice. Te next day though the city had seemed itself, with me discovering not just a Street Food Vinh scene, but also that there were at least things to do.
And I have to say I was quite glad to discover this, granted I had arrived after 12, but with the lack of lights it looked more like I had arrived just after Armageddon. This meant my Oliver Twist like dinner consisted of one very greasy piece of pork and some pho, at least Vietnam always has pho.
In actuality I was very much in downtown, but the fact is that Vinh has much more in common with other small towns like Cao Bang, rather then Saigon “the city that does not sleep”. Vinh sleeps at 10.30 pm on the dot.
Table of Contents
Vinh City Guide – How to get here…..
Vinh is not a city you will ever accidentally go to, in fact you will only go here is you physically decide to. For me the choice was made due to the fact that it was equidistant between Hanoi and Hue.
This pretty much made it the perfect place to break up my journey to the north and who knows, maybe I would even discover another great shitty city that no one else goes to?
Oh Vinh is also reachable by plane and bus although there really is not much reason to use either of these options……
And where to stay in Vinh?
Looking online you’d be forgiven for thinking that there was only 3, or so hotels in Vinh, aside from the resorts of Cua Tung.
In fact much like places such as Cao Bang most hotels are either not online, or rather not in western websites. Yet sadly while this is an interesting fact will not exactly help you find a hotel room, unless you fancy traipsing around etc it with all of your bags.
With this in mind I suggest staying at the Muong Thanh Vinh Hotel this is not only right next to the train station – like literally, but also seems to be the social hub of the city.
What to do in Vinh?
So, while there is not all that much to do in Vinh that is not to say that that it does not have some charms. Firstly there are a bunch of museums here, with the Xo Viet Nghe Tinh Museum being of particular interest to the with a penchant for all things communist.
Said museum though is far form the main communist attraction here, with that honour going to the hometown of President Ho Chi Minh, or Uncle Ho as the locals know him.
Hoang Tru village, located in Kim Lien commune is about 15 miles, or 25 minutes from downtown Vinh. The best way to arrange getting here is actually not Grab, but by arranging directly with a cab driver. The return price with the driver waiting was 400,000 Dong, or around $16.
Now I have been to the hometowns of Kim Il Sung, Stalin and even Marcos at Batac, but quite simply nothing really compares with the hometown of Uncle Ho, and why is this? Quite simply while Vietnam has changed over the years this place is just surreal and serene in equal measure. And not only that, but it is swarmed with locals who come as part of work parties and more to pay their respects.
This is one thing that people in the west will never get about people like Uncle Ho, Chairman Mao and the like, the reverence that is felt for them is actually real.
Street Food Vinh
And last but not least street food Vinh was to prove much more interesting than I had initially thought. This though in itself was a fairly low bar, with there being exactly two open holes in the wall when I first arrived.
In fact it turns out that unlike more touristic places like Hue, Da Nang, or Saigon the street food Vinh scene is much more raw in that it mostly consists of actual outdoor food stalls, classic Vietnamese style restaurants and of course the ever popular Vietnamese market.
The main market, which coincidentally was also opposite the hotel was one those markets that could easily be confused with zoo. Aside from the fresh fruit, retables and meat they also feature th freshest that fresh can be, ducks, chickens and more very much alive and well and waiting to be eaten…..
As well as a very welcoming/fascination with foreigners vibe there were also lots of cool snacks for sale, such as frozen yogurts, Vietnamese balut, as well as really good banh mi, you really can never go wring with banh mi.
Probably the best street food Vinh action that I was to find though was around the Vinh football stadium where I git to enjoy some great shrimp, shell fish and noodles. And while I did not get to try it this time, they even had Bia Hoi.
So, while Vinh will not actually change your life there is a street food Vihh scene, and it does break up the journey to Hanoi and hey, who doesn’t want to pay their respects to Uncle Ho….