Hai Phong doesn’t deserve the lukewarm description it receives from a few of the guidebooks popular with the mass tourism market. Although it’s Vietnam’s largest port, it retains considerable charm and is worth a visit. Regardless of its size and heavy industry, like Hanoi, it has a compact and enticing central area that provides it a small city environment belying its standing as Vietnam’s third largest city. 

The city centre is a pleasing combination of parks, tree-lined boulevards and colonial buildings. Tam BAC Lake, the western section of a defunct canal constructed during the colonial interval, is lined with French-style road lamps that give the area a Parisian feel. 

There are several sights worth attention. The Municipal Theatre is a basic instance of French colonial structure - unfortunately, the contents are less appealing. The close by produce and flower markets make for an interesting stroll in the direction of Den Nghe, a small temple with some notable statues.

Vinh

Vinh is roughly halfway between Hanoi and Hue situated twenty kilometers from the ocean within the narrowest part of Vietnam. The Lam River loops round the south and east of the city, and the mountains of Laos are clearly seen to the west. 

It’s a sizeable urban area with a few quarter of one million individuals, and the capital of Nghe and Province. Its harsh climate, ceaselessly topic to a hot dry wind from the west and violent storms from the South China Sea, coupled with its poor quality soil, has made Vinh one of the poorest provincial cities in Vietnam.  

Founded in 1802, it was extra or less destroyed during the French-Vietnamese War. After rebuilding and reaching city status in 1962, it was again flattened in the course of the American War. This time it was rebuilt with assistance from the now-defunct German Democratic Republic. 

Tune Hong, the Red River, is northern Vietnam’s largest river. It rises in China’s Yunnan province and flows 1, a hundred seventy five km southeast by deep, slender gorges to enter Vietnam and discharge into the Gulf of Tonkin by way of an ideal delta. The silt it carries is rich in iron oxide, making its water red and giving it its name.  

The Red River delta is about 120 km long and 140km vast, and is increasing an astonishing 100 metres a year. It's the economic centre of northern Vietnam - Hai Phong, Vietnam’s essential port, lies on a department of the delta.

The amount of water flowing down the river averages 500 million cubic meters per second, however might increase by more than 60 times on the peak of the rainy season.