So I fell a bit behind in my posting, but am now caught up. I have included a few pics. One of me in Halong Bay, one of our tour guide Tim, 2 of people carrying stuff on motorbikes, and one of our group on our motorbike tour at Bunker Hill in Hue.
Day 1
I arrived in Hanoi after about 25 hours of travel. I was tired and hot. And hungry. So I decided to leave the hotel and get money and food. I finally found the ATM after walking past it by about 4 blocks. Then the real challenge: crossing a major road in Hanoi. The largest mode of transportation in Vietnam seems to be the motorbike. Whether it's one person or 4, traveling with no luggage or with 8 pigs, it all goes on a little motorbike. There are thousands. And very few lights. I had read that you just pick a time with less traffic and walk. The bikes will go around you. And amazingly it works! And now, 4 days later, I feel like a pro. I can cross the street any time. It's a bit scary, but kind of fun. So, after I met up with the rest of my travel companions for the next 2 weeks, we went to dinner. I called it an early evening given the jet lag. There were 5 of us joining a group of 10 who had traveled through Thailand and Laos for about 2 weeks already. Other than our tour coordinator, Tim, there is one other in the group from the US. She also happens to be from Arizona. Small world, I know. There are also people from Canada, Australia, Britain, Switzerland, and Mexico.
Day 2
Got up early to leave for Halong Bay, a world heritage site, only to find the trip was likely off due to monsoons. After about an hour or so, the trip was off with the decision to stay in Hanoi another day and maybe be able to go the next day. We were all very disappointed given the plan for relaxation on a boat for the next 24 hours, but understood we couldn't control the weather. So I set out to see a few things in Hanoi with some of the group. We first walked to the Temple of Literature, Vietnam's oldest university. It was in many ways a temple to Confucius. And unfortunately shops. We next went to the Vietnam Museum of Fine Arts. Considering it wasn't in most of the guidebooks, it was quite a good museum. Artifacts from ancient dynasties to modern Veitnamese artists. We then had some lunch and taught our waitress a bit of English. Including what scrambled eggs are and the differences between scrambled eggs and fried eggs. Finally, we headed to the Ho Chi Minh Museum. One of the oddest experiences of my life to be honest. Lots of memorabilia of his life starting as a child and of the rise of the communist party in Vietnam. Would have been better if I could read Vietnamese, but it was fine. The odd part was the modern art installments throughout the museum. (If you are ever in Hanoi, I would skip this museum.) We walked back to the hotel and got caught in a monsoon storm. Streets turned to streams quite quickly. I was very glad for my rain pancho as it kept my backpack and everything in it dry. Yummy Vietnamese food for dinner again. Then to a jazz club for a bit. The musicians were actually quite good, played typical American jazz.
Day 3
I was awoken at 8:10 by a knock on the door and told to be in the lobby to leave for Halong Bay at 8:30. Now, we all knew it was possible we would get to go a day late, but none of us were counting on it. And we thought it we went we would be going much earlier and with a bit more notice. So although a nice suprise, not a fun way to wake up. So, I threw stuff in my bag for overnight and packed up the big backpack to leave at the hotel. And we were off. After about a 3.5 hour drive, we arrived at the bay. And had what turned out to be an amazing day and a half. No rain, pretty clear skies. The original forecast had been for a 10 day monsoon. Not only did we get beautiful weather, but we somehow got upgraded to a really nice junk (flat-bottomed) boat. As in supposed to be $300/night nice, which is a fortune here. The other hotels we have been in are about $30/night and quite nice. So we mostly just floated around and enjoyed the scenery. Stopped at a cave on an island and climbed about a million steps up and down to get the whole tour, not sure if it was worth it, but the cave was nice enough. After we got back to the boat, we moved to the area near an oyster farm to go swimming. The guys decided to jump off the side of the boat. Which was about 2 stories above the water. Then many of the women also did it. And somehow, despite my fear of heights, I also did it. Exhilarating, but I only did it once. Hitting the water stung a bit. Floated around a bit but there were jellyfish in the area, so got out soon after. Other than relaxing and eating a ton of seafood, not much else happened on the boat. Well, we did go “squidding” although I just watched. There were a few squid caught though.
Day 4
Today started out with a bang. Well, with me causing a bang. My glasses were fogged and either I missed a step or thought there was another one and fell. Jammed my left middle finger pretty good (almost back to normal 2 days later) and have a great bruise on my chest. The boat driver heard it and came to check on me. But no one saw it happen actually. Once I recovered from that, I enjoyed a morning on the boat. Once we reached land we drove back to Hanoi and had several hours to kill. It was hot, humid, and seemed about to rain. So a few of us went to see “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.” Entertaining and air conditioned, so good enough for me. Museums, etc, were closed by the time we got there so not much else to do anyway. That night we took an overnight train from Hanoi to Hue. Cabins for 4 people, overall not as bad as the nickname “cockroach express” made me think it would be. However, there were 3 Vietnamese women in my cabin when we got there. They were in the wrong place, the train worker came and had them move. We did feel a little bad they sat in the hallway the whole night, but think that is what their tickets were for and they just picked our cabin and hoped it would be empty. The only other issue was the AC in our cabin didn't work. So it was a hot, humid night, but we all made it through.
Day 5
When the train arrived in Hue, we thankfully checked into the hotel and had time to shower, etc. I had a bit of a minor emergency as bug spray had leaked all over the outside picket of my backpack, but I got it cleaned out and all is now well. We all then left for a very fun tour of Hue. On motorbike. We didn't drive, just rode on the back, but it was fun. I was worried at first I'd fall off, but soon I wasn't holding onto my driver and was snapping pictures the whole time. We got to see the country side and most of the historical attractions in Hue. It is an interesting place as it was the capital during the last dynasty (Nguyen) and is only about 60 km south of south of the 17th Parallel, which was the official separation between southern and northern Vietnam. We also ate lunch at a Buddhist nunnery, probably the best vegetarian food I've ever had. Dinner that night was at Ushi's, who is apparently a celebrity chef in the Netherlands.
Day 6
Today started out with a tour of the citadel in Hue, which contains the Forbidden City of the last dynasty. Although much of it was destroyed in the Vietnam War, the city is trying to restore it. What is completed looks beautiful but it was interesting to look at what was still behind the barriers. Once that tour was over, we headed south to Hoi An. Because of fog, we missed what is supposed to be one of the most beautiful drives in the world, but looking at pictures there are many similar places along many coasts. After arriving here, we took a short tour and then went to a little hole-in-the-wall place that has make your own spring rolls. All you can eat for about $3. So, so good. Then I headed to the tailor to get fitted for a dress and some other things. An interesting time, I can't wait to see how the pieces turn out. Then for one of the most fascinating things I've done yet. I went to the family shop/home of a Vietnamese woman I know in the US. They were so welcoming, gave me and my friend a beer, some soda, a snack. And lots of hot sauce to take back to their daughter. I was very glad Ezekiel, one of my fellow travelers, joined me. He is originally from Panama so was able to use his Spanish and the man we visited's French to carry on a conversation. Tonight we had another good dinner, hung out a bit for some drinks, then back to finally finish this.
That is the trip so far. It's been great, even if the schedule changed a bit. Tomorrow I go back for fittings to the tailer and am also taking a cooking class. The next entry won't be so long, I promise. I'll keep up better.
