Vibrant Vietnam! Trivia Quiz

Answer: North

It is a bit over 2000kms, as the crow flies, so we followed that crow. Our path took us over Cambodia, Thailand and Laos, before landing at Noi Bai International Airport. A lot of military personnel were there, which was a bit daunting, but I found out later that the airport is shared with the Vietnamese Air Force.

Answer: Caves

'Tam Coc' directly translates to 'three caves'. Many of the boats were paddled by women, and I saw the rather incongruous sight of our guide paddling with her feet while surfing the internet on her mobile phone!

The caves (sans bats) are under large mountains and are long and low, with clearance averaging only a couple of metres; for a few hundred metres I could almost touch the 'roof'. When we made it through, we were surrounded by about a dozen women in boats, selling us T-shirts, cheap jewellery and various other trinkets. I got the feeling that if we did not buy anything, we would have to swim back! It was a pleasant couple of hours, and the scenery was breath-takingly beautiful.

Answer: Motor scooters

They are everywhere! One of our tour guides told us that there were about five million scooters in Hanoi, and I think I saw every one of them. Road rules seem to be non-existent, and the few traffic lights that I saw were totally ignored, but the strange thing is that the 'system' seemed to work. I did not see any instances of road rage at all. Cars are very much in the minority. Rickshaws are mainly used in the tourist trade, are a lot of fun and a very cheap way of getting around.

Answer: Saigon

Saigon was the capital of South Vietnam, but when the North Vietnamese won the war, they combined the two halves into one country, with Hanoi as the capital. Ho Chi Minh was the leader of the Communist Party, and Prime Minister and President of The Democratic Republic of Vietnam (commonly known as North Vietnam), until his death in 1969.

Hue, located in the middle of the country, was the capital of Vietnam until 1945 and is a very interesting place to visit. If you are ever there, try to also visit Hoi An, just a bit to the south- a shopper's paradise. Ha Long Bay is in the north of the country, not far from China, and is famous for the thousands of small islets. It is a World Heritage site.

Rangoon (now Yangon) is not in Vietnam but is in Burma, which is now named Myanmar.

Answer: South China Sea

Most of the country borders the South China sea, with the exception of the extreme southwest corner, which is on the Gulf of Thailand. The Andaman Sea is on the western side of the SE Asian peninsula, bordering Myanmar and Thailand, and is north of the Indian Ocean. The Sea of Okhotsk borders Russia and the northern part of Japan, and is thousands of kilometres from Vietnam.

Hoi An was probably my favourite stop on the trip. I bought two pairs of sandals, handmade and individually measured, for the equivalent of about AUD $12. They lasted for more than three years and were very comfortable. I also added to my T-shirt collection, and actually had to buy another suitcase to carry all my booty home. Well worth a visit.

Answer: Notre-Dame Cathedral

The French occupied Indo-China in the 19th century and built the cathedral in 1863. In 1962, it was renamed to Saigon Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica, although its official title is the Basilica of Our Lady of The Immaculate Conception.

The building after which it was named, the Notre-Dame de Paris, is considerably older, with the first sod being turned in 1163.

Answer: Ho Chi Minh

Ho Chi Minh (Uncle Ho) was the driving force behind the establishment of a unified Vietnam, however, he did not see his dream come to fruition. He died in 1969, a few years before unification in 1975. Saigon was renamed in his honour, and his image is on banknotes, stamps, buildings, posters and even in school classrooms.

Lee Kuan Yew was the first Prime Minister of Singapore after it became independent of Malaysia in 1965. Sun Yat Sen was the first President of the Republic of China and Tunku Abdul Rahman was the first Prime Minister of both Malaya and Malaysia.

Answer: Mekong

The headwaters of the Mekong are in China, and it flows through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia before reaching Vietnam. It is more than 4,000 kilometres long. The entire lower tip of Vietnam is encompassed in the delta and many tributaries empty into the South China Sea.

The Perfume River is in central Vietnam but is only tiny by comparison- about 30 km. The Irrawaddy is in Myanmar (Burma), and the Ganges is in India.

Answer: Graves

Farmers bury their ancestors on their properties, and 'consult' with them often. Several generations of graves can be found of some farms. This peaceful setting was located on a farm just north of Ho Chi Minh City.

Answer: Soup with noodles and meat

Clinton visited Ho Chi Minh City with his daughter, Chelsea. He was the first US leader to visit Vietnam since prior to the Vietnam War. Apparently, he dined on chicken pho and a glass of papaw juice.

A very simple dish, but very tasty. The meat was usually beef or chicken, and some herbs for a bit of variety. There were many roadside stalls selling pho, but I was not game to try the dish from there, preferring to eat in more reputable establishments.

The other three dishes are a product of my imagination, but may exist in some country's cuisine!