Hai Phong Guide - All you need to know

Hai Phong plays an important role in economy, social as well as technology and security of the country. Hai Phong is not a super popular compare to other tourist destinations in Vietnam like Hanoi, Ha Long, Sapa, Ninh Binh, etc, but this is one out of five most important city of Vietnam, the center of industry, medical, education and the largest sea port in Vietnam.

History

Founded in June 19^th 1888 by the colony government, Hai Phong officially appeared on the map of Indochina (Laos – Vietnam – Cambodia). Hai Phong had the population of 73.000 people in 1940, the fourth – largest city behind Sai Gon, Cho Lon and Hanoi. Back then, Hai Phong had the same rank as Hanoi and Sai Gon. It was the largest seaport of Northern Vietnam and also a very important traffic route in the north. Hai Phong was home of many democracy campaign against the cruel French colony government.

A corner of Hai Phong city

From August 15^th 1945 to August 25^th 1945, Hai Phong people overthrow the Nazi government and established new government in November 20^th 1946. During the 1955 – 1975 periods, Hai Phong played an important role: receiving supply from the allies and became the base of Ho Chi Minh route on the ocean. The American army focused on destroying Hai Phong to eliminate the North Vietnam army base and destroy the infrastructures. A lot of bomb were dropped, killed thousands of people as well as factories, roads and bridges.  From 1965 to 1972, Hai Phong people had fought over 4000 battles, destroyed 317 American aircrafts including 5 Flying Fort Boeing B52, 28 American boats.

Culture

In 1897, a few years after established, the population of Hai Phong was about 18.480 people, and now there are over 2 million people there. Hai Phong people have significant signals of people in the ocean areas, they speak loud and very generous. 90% population in Hai Phong is Kinh ethnic, there are very few ethnic of minorities here. A lot of artists, singers, actors, movie makers are from Hai Phong, this is the land of many talent people.

Just like every other big cities of Vietnam, Hai Phong celebrates main festivals like Tet, Mid – Autumn festival, etc. Besides those national festivals, Hai Phong province also has exclusive, unique festivals such as Dong Ly temple festival, Dong Ly temple festival, and the most famous festival: The Do Son Buffalo fighting festival (August 9^th lunar calendar).  It is the best for foreign tourists to hire a local guide to get to know the city better.

Do Son Buffalo fighting festival or bull fighting festival. This is a long live tradition of Do Son fishing village, Hai Phong province. The festival takes place on August 9^th (lunar calendar), this is the monsoon with a lot of big wave and strong blowing wind. The bull fighting festival is the combination between agriculture custom and fishing custom: the bull is the symbol of Vietnamese agriculture and after the festival, the bull will be slaughtered and offer to the god of the sea.

Intense buffalo fighting

Each village will have one buffalo as a candidate. The most experienced will be in charge of buying and raising the buffalo very carefully in about one year. The festival will take place in one day. After day 1, every buffaloes will be slaughtered and brought back to their villages. At 12pm, people will pour the buffalo’s blood and fur into the sea and pray for a new season with a lot of fish.

Weather

Hai Phong is an oceanic city with plenty islands and long coastline. Weather here is pretty genuine all year round. However, with the tropical climate, Hai Phong weather is similar to the overall weather of Northern Vietnam: hot and humid, rain in the summer, cold and dry in the winter. The average temperature in the summer is 28,3 degrees and 16,3 degrees in the winter. However, extreme weathers sometimes happen in Hai Phong, the temperature dropped to 4,2 degrees in 2011. Compares to other cities, Hai Phong is much cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter, thanks to the ocean. The weather here is great for developing tourism and economy.

Transportation

Cat Bi international airport

Hai Phong province has Cat Bi international airport, Hai Phong international seaport and a lot of highways. You can go to Hai Phong by every kind of transportations such as buses, aircrafts or boats, it is up to you. The price may vary, there are tons of option from budget to luxury. You can hire a bike to go around the beautiful city, or just download Grab on your phone to call a taxi.

Travel information

Hai Phong is a big city of Vietnam. It means you can exchange money in any bank, the rate is public online. If you are foreigner visiting Vietnam for the first time, you should bring your own supplies, medicines, sun screens and any pills you need because chances are you won’t find the exactly right stuff you use back in your country. Besides, you can find everything in Vietnam with ease. You don’t have to worry about anything, just pack things up and go.