After our brief sojourn in Hong Kong, we flew to Hanoi, where South East Asia smacked us hard in the face. In addition to the usual pace of life and traffic, preparations for the Vietnamese New Year, or "Tet" were well under way. But we've already shared some of those experiences, and our time in and around Hanoi wasn't entirely about dodging scooters, eating street soup, and wondering what happens to all those oranges after the holiday is over.
We spent 4 nights in the Hanoi area: 3 in the old city and one night on a boat in Halong Bay, about 3 hours outside of Hanoi. Halong Bay is a series of limestone island mountains in the Gulf of Tonkin, renowned simply for their unusual formation and natural beauty. Visiting the bay is one of the most popular side-trips from Hanoi, as evidenced by the crowding of 'dragon boats' in the bay. And yes, the boat drivers are as liberal with their horn use as the motor vehicle drivers! Thankfully they calmed down a bit once we got out of the port and into slightly more open waters.
We were on a boat with 14 other people - three Brazilian guys, a trio of Californian girls, a Spanish couple living in Shanghai, a pair of English girls, and 2 separate Australian couples. Once we got out into the bay, we visited a cave, during which our "English speaking" guide stretched our imaginations pointing out stalactite formations that may have looked like various animals or obscene figures if you squinted your left eye and tilted your head precisely 19 degrees to the right. We amused ourselves by trying to interpret exactly what we were being told, and piecing together our own story as we went along! One thing we did figure out, though, is that in lieu of any rational explanation for the formation of the islands in the bay, the local story is that a dragon plunged into the sea, creating mountains when the land was displaced by his tail (hence 'Ha long', meaning 'where the dragon descends into the sea'.)
Before dinnertime, we had the opportunity to take kayaks out in pairs and paddle around the islands, which was very cool, once Jason and I got somewhat in sync with our paddling and remembered to enjoy ourselves. The weather wasn't too cooperative during our excursion, but it did manage to clear up a little in the late afternoon so we had some of our best views during this time - but no camera!
In the evening our group of party people had a good time trying out the 'Happy Water' (rice wine) served to us by our guide and rocking out to karaoke as late as they let us, which was 11pm.
The next day was a real wash-out, and we were all pretty chilled and ready to be back at our hotels for hot showers. On the trip back to Hanoi we made the obligatory rest stop at an enormous souvenir shop, and we were told our driver needed to rest - after all he had been driving all morning to come fetch us. Normally the drivers refuel on noodle soup. We stared in disbelief as ours reenergized by belting out a few ballads.
Back in Hanoi, we visited a number of sights, including the Temple of Literature, dedicated to Confucian teachings, and the Hoa Lo Prison Museum, once used by the French for imprisoning Vietnamese, and later dubbed the 'Hanoi Hilton' by American POWs who were held there. I plan to write some more on the war stuff in a later post, but suffice it to say that the exhibits were not exactly unbiased.
Our most surreal Hanoi sight-seeing experience, though, was our visit to President Ho Chi Minh's tomb. "Uncle Ho" died in '69 before the war was out, but he was a legend for having defeated the French and for his passionate efforts to re-unite the country under communism. Rather than being cremated as per his wish, he has been embalmed and is on display inside a massive mausoleum on the west side of town. As you don't just get to visit a deceased leader's body just any day, we paid a visit. We checked our bags (and camera), removed our shoes, and padded slowly along in a solemn procession of primarily Vietnamese visitors. We went up a red rubber lined set of stairs, entered the silent room with the guarded body, gawped for about 30 seconds as we processed around the glass case (from a distance of about 3 meters) and padded our way back down the stairs out into the sunlight. Completely bizarre, but entirely worthwhile.
We spent 4 nights in the Hanoi area: 3 in the old city and one night on a boat in Halong Bay, about 3 hours outside of Hanoi. Halong Bay is a series of limestone island mountains in the Gulf of Tonkin, renowned simply for their unusual formation and natural beauty. Visiting the bay is one of the most popular side-trips from Hanoi, as evidenced by the crowding of 'dragon boats' in the bay. And yes, the boat drivers are as liberal with their horn use as the motor vehicle drivers! Thankfully they calmed down a bit once we got out of the port and into slightly more open waters.
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| Overcast Halong Bay |
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| Just a few of the boats visiting the bay |
We were on a boat with 14 other people - three Brazilian guys, a trio of Californian girls, a Spanish couple living in Shanghai, a pair of English girls, and 2 separate Australian couples. Once we got out into the bay, we visited a cave, during which our "English speaking" guide stretched our imaginations pointing out stalactite formations that may have looked like various animals or obscene figures if you squinted your left eye and tilted your head precisely 19 degrees to the right. We amused ourselves by trying to interpret exactly what we were being told, and piecing together our own story as we went along! One thing we did figure out, though, is that in lieu of any rational explanation for the formation of the islands in the bay, the local story is that a dragon plunged into the sea, creating mountains when the land was displaced by his tail (hence 'Ha long', meaning 'where the dragon descends into the sea'.)
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| I think I see Santa Claus in there |
Before dinnertime, we had the opportunity to take kayaks out in pairs and paddle around the islands, which was very cool, once Jason and I got somewhat in sync with our paddling and remembered to enjoy ourselves. The weather wasn't too cooperative during our excursion, but it did manage to clear up a little in the late afternoon so we had some of our best views during this time - but no camera!
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| Just after we finished our kayaking (others are still out there) |
In the evening our group of party people had a good time trying out the 'Happy Water' (rice wine) served to us by our guide and rocking out to karaoke as late as they let us, which was 11pm.
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| Happy Water tastes pretty much as you'd expect, given the serving vessel |
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| If you zoom in you'll see: "Tell me why are we / So blind to see" |
The next day was a real wash-out, and we were all pretty chilled and ready to be back at our hotels for hot showers. On the trip back to Hanoi we made the obligatory rest stop at an enormous souvenir shop, and we were told our driver needed to rest - after all he had been driving all morning to come fetch us. Normally the drivers refuel on noodle soup. We stared in disbelief as ours reenergized by belting out a few ballads.
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| Our trusty driver |
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| Jason in disbelief |
Back in Hanoi, we visited a number of sights, including the Temple of Literature, dedicated to Confucian teachings, and the Hoa Lo Prison Museum, once used by the French for imprisoning Vietnamese, and later dubbed the 'Hanoi Hilton' by American POWs who were held there. I plan to write some more on the war stuff in a later post, but suffice it to say that the exhibits were not exactly unbiased.
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| Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum |
1 comment:
Hi guys! You have some great pictures for the two or three minutes that we actually enjoyed the sun :P Really hope to share another Ktv with you somewhere, sometime..Enjoy your trip!
Mónica
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