HOWARD Owen gave an illustrated talk to members of Winsford Ladies club entitled ‘Vietnam a Country not a War’.

People seem to know very little about present day Vietnam.

It has a population of 90 million and is the world’s largest supplier of the Robusta coffee bean used in nearly all supermarket instant coffees.

It is the second biggest exporter of rice and Howard and his wife Linda were eager to discover what else the remote country had to offer.

Apart from the fantastic food and friendly people the diversity of the countryside and cultural experience they encountered made it a very special holiday.

With the guidance of friends, who live there, they were able to see some amazing sites, including the tranquil Hoan Kien Lake (Lake of the Reclaimed Sword) where large turtles reside; the capital, Hanoi City with its bustling traffic of motorcycles, scooters and bikes overloaded with passengers or piled high with goods.

They visited a craft workshop which produces finely detailed and intricately embroidered pictures; the one they purchased had taken three months to complete and could be mistaken for a photograph.

They saw unusual things like: water puppets, operated under-water by long poles; the Festival of the Full Moon where, on the eve of the full moon the village lights are turned off and replaced by lanterns creating a magical atmosphere; Halong Bay, a world heritage site with limestone islands rising from the sea and people living in floating villages; also, Cuc Phong National Park.

They were transported on a four hour motorbike trip over the mountains to Hoi An and on another occasion boarded a Sampan to discover they were the only passengers with five crew members to cater for them.

It was an exciting and inspiring trip to a country where people are positive about the future despite their long, tortured past.

Jean Begg