The rest of our time in capitalist-communist Vietnam

A word about pictures:  we have a fixed amount of data transfer with our internet time right now, so we can’t keep our Picasa albums in sync with our posting, for those who are looking at our albums. We’ll let you know when they’re up!   

Picking up where we left off in Vietnam we started our journey south flying to Hue on Feb 2^nd. Thanks to some helpful advice (flying is basically as cheap as the train and not much more than the bus) and pre-planning we managed to avoid the New Year travel madness of the train and what I can only imagine is a horrible overnight bus.

Despite its setting along the Perfume River, Hue lacked the character and charm of Hanoi but offered a number of cool historical sites owing to its position as a former capital city. Our sightseeing included a visit to the Citadel, which was constructed in the early 1800s and housed the imperial city along and was home to the emperors of Nguyen dynasty. While much of it is in ruins or heavily renovated thanks to damage during the Vietnam War, you still get a good sense for the magnitude of the city and the grandeur of the emperor’s home (Forbidden Purple City).

Inside the old citadel in Hue

On our second day we took a boat/bus tour along the river to visit several of the emperors’ tombs and two pagodas. We particularly liked the Tomb of Khai Dinh which had a unique blend of European and Vietnamese architecture.

Khai Dinh tomb complex

Hue also provided a chance for some Asian fusion food, local style. The restaurant we particularly liked was run by a friendly woman who looked about twelve years old and had a great sign outside …always best to avoid the ‘cheap food’ and stick with the ‘price reasonable’.

As advertised, and good food too!

From Hue we took the train to Danang on our way to Hoi An. While the ride was fine, and provided a unique food cart experience (we didn’t sample, but the fragrance was hard to avoid) and some decent coast line views, it definitely made us even more thankful for our decision to fly from Hanoi.

This guy did not find his food as amusing as we did.

I'll have the pre-packaged sandwich & chips, please.

Our three days in Hoi An provided a different experience from Hanoi and Hue with a much more ‘tourist friendly’ feel.   On the day we arrived, we explored town and the temples hidden behind all the retail shops – mainly tailors (Hoi An is the custom-made clothing capital of Vietnam) and ladies enticing you into their stores by suggesting “Buy something!”, a sales pitch that turned out to not be very effective on us. 

The next day we rented some bikes and rode to the beach. While we didn’t go in the water ourselves, we made some friends with a couple of locals boys who found us funny – especially my picture taking - and we were fascinated by watching the locals go in the water in their everyday clothes.

Shoes or cameras? Same-same, but different.

Seems uncomfortable to me.

We spent a morning visiting the totally disappointing My Son Hindu temple ruins about a 90 minute bus ride from town… but at least we checked that off the UNESCO World Heritage list.  The highlight from our stay was a half day cooking class. After a market visit we took a boat to a small hotel/restaurant about 3 miles down the river. We learned about and got to practice making several different dishes including fresh spring rolls and rice paper from scratch, Vietnamese omelet, and a clay pot eggplant dish. We also did some food carving, which Jess seemed to have a better knack for than me (no photos of my efforts will be shown here; see album), but I largely blame on my inadequate knife.

Top Chef Jason

Master food stylist Jess

On the boat trip back to the center of town we were treated to an amazing sunset.

Our final stop in Vietnam was Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), a large bustling city that removes any doubt one might have that the Vietnamese have fully embraced capitalism. While we probably didn’t do the city justice by our choice of location for accommodation, in backpacker central, we didn’t find much in the way of charm or interest in the city itself. That said, a trip to the War Remnants Museum was a fascinating experience. While the displays painted a slightly different and more one-side picture of the Vietnam War from the one I knew, the photo exhibits left little doubt of the horrific nature of the fighting, tactics employed and the impact on Vietnam.

By the time we left on the 10^th on our 6am bus bound for Phnom Penh in Cambodia we were ready for something a little less in-your-face and hoping for a break from having to negotiate the price of everything and pushing back on the inflated “your [item or service] costs 50% more because of Tet Holiday [link]” pricing which lasted well past the length of the actually 3-day holiday. In that vein, though, we were feeling particularly smug after we refused to pay our Vietnam-Cambodia bus monitor man $25 each to take care of our Cambodian visas ($20 visa + $5 service charge:  “$2 stamp fee, $1 for the border guard, $2 for me”).  That last “$2 for me” was the final straw!  We decided to handle the visa ourselves, taking our chances that the bus might leave without us – but with our bags in the hold – if we took too long. Turns out it took no time at all, there was no stamp fee, we didn’t have to bribe the border guards, and we were back on the bus before all the locals made it through.  Vietnam might have hosed us a few times, but we left on a winning note! 

Sleepless in Saigon

There's more to share about Vietnam, but since the last post was long I thought I'd put up a short one.

Jumping around a bit, our last stop in Vietnam was Saigon / Ho Chi Minh City.  We were pretty tired on our first night there and decided to sleep in a bit, setting the alarm for 9:00 (we have typically been getting up around 7).  

So much for that plan, as around 6AM we were startled out of sleep by the following: 

This was one of those "if you don't laugh you'll cry" moments, so we had a really good laugh and took a few minutes of film (which I have managed to edit down - how's this for my first attempt at video editing?).  I had just made the decision to make myself presentable and check things out at street level when the whole thing stopped as abruptly as it started.  Unfortunately there was no hope for further sleep after that, but at least we have this video for posterity! Personally, I like the flourish around 0:27 - you can tell they really worked on that one - and the drum riff at 0:49.  Very jazzy.

Hanoi & Halong Bay

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.

Overcast Halong Bay

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'.)

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!

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.  

Happy Water tastes pretty much as you'd expect, given the serving vessel

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.

Our trusty driver

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.

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum

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.

It's Tết! Chúc Mừng Năm Mới!

Happy new year! Today marks the lunar new year, celebrated in China and in Vietnam (possibly other places as well...).  While China ushers in the Year of the Rabbit, Vietnam is ringing in the Year of the Cat.  This is the only sign in their zodiac that differs. According to a very informative article I read in Vietnam's English-language newspaper, Good Morning Vietnam, the reason for the difference is either because the Vietnamese thought the Rabbit too close to the Rat (both rodents) so substituted in the Cat, which also has the effect of balancing out the Dog; either that OR there was a translation error.  They're not sure.

Anyway, we listened to the fireworks from our hotel last night (we're generally pretty lame about New Year's Eve so why should this be different?).  But we have enjoyed watching the preparations the days leading up.  In Hong Kong the flower market was overflowing with ladies buying orange trees, pussy willow branches, and other floral delights. But what we got the biggest kick out of was, of course, the scooters in Hanoi - rushing around town with mandarin orange trees attached to the back.  I can only think of our perennial family event of strapping a Christmas tree on the roof of the car, and put a challenge to my dad to try this method next year!

Also notice the small child in the front right of the frame.

Another side effect of the new year is that the streets got eerily quiet... not silent by any means, but we had an easy ride to the airport (we're in Hue now) and have not needed to practice death-defying street crossing techniques in the past day or two... too bad - we were getting pretty good at that!

Harried in Hanoi

Yesterday we arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam - and while I'm backlogged on blogging (South Africa, Hong Kong, and Safari still on the list...), I just wanted to share some pictures from this crazy place.

We took a mini bus from the airport into town yesterday and were instantly amazed by the traffic on the main roads - seemingly lawless, and full of fascinating sights, like people riding scooters with tens of dozens of eggs on the back among other oddities (we later saw a coffee table book featuring scooters and their bizarre cargo).  

We were the only westerners on the bus, and so naturally we were dropped off last (even though about a 2 minute detour could have put us out first). When we did get dropped off, we were still about a mile from our accommodations, so we had our first experience as pedestrians in this city. There are simply no clear opportunities to cross the street, and getting from here to there requires a sort of kamikaze Frogger approach. As Jason pointed out, it's not 'look both ways', it's 'look four ways' - but the challenge with even this is by the time you've looked 360, something has changed again.  So far, we're unscathed, tho sometimes by inches it seems.

Some daring pedestrians step out into the chaos

Things get pretty jammed up with cars in the mix

She seems to know what she's doing

A very unusual opportunity

After we arrived at our hotel, we were told we had to go stay at one of their partner hotels in the neighborhood (some story about our room's current occupants having a flight delay).  We were carted off one by one on the back of a scooter - complete with our backpacks - to the next hotel.  It was surprisingly not too scary an experience although I think I might have broken the ribs of the poor driver by holding on too tightly. That said, we really feel like we've had a truly local experience.

In other truly local experiences, we opted for this place for dinner:

We sat at the blue table at left.

The kitchen & the cooks 

We waited for a spot to clear and sat down, again the only westerners around.  We were shortly brought 2 bowls of pork, noodle, and vegetable soup, which was delicious. We ordered ourselves some beers.  The total came to about $4 US.

If you look closely next to my right hand, you can see where the dishes were being washed.

The table is not Jason-sized

 Now we're feeling like experts and ready to face Day 2 ... I think!