Rough Guide to Vietnam - Jan Dodd [289]
Some history
Haiphong lies 100km from Hanoi on the Cua Cam River, one of the main channels of the Red River Estuary. Originally a small fishing village and military outpost, its development into a major port in the seventeenth century stems more from its proximity to the capital city than from favourable local conditions. In fact it was an astonishingly poor choice for a harbour, 20km from the open sea with shallow, shifting channels, no fresh water and little solid land. The first quay was only built in 1817 and it was not until 1874, when Haiphong was ceded to the French, that a town began to develop. With remarkable determination, the first settlers drained the mosquito-ridden marshes, sinking foundations sometimes as deep as 30m into huge earth platforms that passed for building plots. Doubts about the harbour lingered, but then, in 1883, the nine-thousand-strong French Expeditionary Force, sent to secure Tonkin, established a supply base in Haiphong and its future as the north’s principal port was secured.
In November 1946 Haiphong reappeared in the history books when rising tensions between French troops and soldiers of the newly declared Democratic Republic of Vietnam erupted in a dispute about customs control. Shots were exchanged over a Chinese junk suspected of smuggling, and the French replied with a naval bombardment of Haiphong’s Vietnamese quarter, killing many civilians (estimates range from one to six thousand), and only regained control of the streets after several days of rioting. But the two nations were now set for war – a war that ended, appropriately, with the citizens of Haiphong watching the last colonial troops embark in 1955 after the collapse of French Indochina.
Merely a decade later the city was again under siege, this time by American planes targeting a major supply route for Soviet “aid”. In May 1972 President Nixon ordered the mining of Haiphong harbour, but less than a year later America was clearing up the mines under the terms of the Paris ceasefire agreement. By late 1973 the harbour was deemed safe once more, in time for the exodus of desperate boat people at the end of the decade as hundreds of refugees escaped in overladen fishing boats (See "The “boat people”").
Ha Long Bay and the northern seaboard | Haiphong |
Arrival, information and city transport
Haiphong train station is located on the southeast side of town, within easy walking distance of the centre. Buses from Ninh Binh and the south usually pitch up at Niem Nghia bus station, out in the southwest suburbs on Tran Nguyen Han, about 3km and 20,000đ by xe om from the centre. Most Hanoi services drop you closer in at Tam Bac bus station, beside Sat Market at the west end of Tam Bac Lake. Buses from Bai Chay and the northeast come into Lac Long bus station near the mouth of the Tam Bac River. The Ben Binh ferry station, 500m north of the city centre, is the terminus for ferries and hydrofoils from Cat Ba, while Haiphong’s Cat Bi Airport (flights to Ho Chi Minh City only) is 7km southeast of the city. A taxi from the airport is around 60,000đ. There is no tourist office, but staff at the Harbour View speak English and can help with information.
Xe om and cyclo are readily available and a good way of getting around the central district, although it’s quite possible to tackle most of it on foot. There’s no official bike or motorbike rental, but you might be able to arrange something through your hotel. For longer distances a taxi or car rental is the only answer.
Ha Long Bay and the northern seaboard | Haiphong |
Accommodation
Haiphong has a fair number of hotels, but – with a few noteworthy exceptions – prices tend to be high and the quality not great. Budget accommodation of an acceptable standard is in particularly short supply and generally fills up early. Most hotels cluster on and around Dien Bien Phu, the city’s main artery, with others dotted around town.
Ben Binh 6 Ben Binh 031/384 2260, 031/384 2524. Handy for the ferry station and set in pleasant gardens, though the old-fashioned rooms