Well here we are on yet another international flight, to yet another country. It is amazing how quickly time flies, and Vietnam was no exception. This time we are bound for Thailand, where in approximately 12 hours we will rendezvous with our good friend Craig, who will be joining us for 10 days in Eastern Thailand, and New Year’s Eve in Bangkok. We are very excited about having a friend with us over Christmas, and are hoping it makes us feel more like being at home. We will both be missing our families and friends a lot over Christmas, so having one familiar face will be great. Kim also has a friend from England named Tim who is currently in the same area we will be in, so we will expect to see him over the holidays and we look forward to that. But now is the time for telling the stories of the remainder of our time in Vietnam.
When we last posted we were on our way to Danang, which is in central Vietnam. We had a fantastic time in Ho Chi Minh City (AKA Saigon), and we continued to be impressed with this country when we got to Da Nang. We did not spend a lot of time in the city of Danang, it was more of a jumping off point for other adventures in central Vietnam. We stopped quickly before leaving the city at a museum featuring the Champa culture, which is essentially Hinduism. The Champa were displaced from this area when a prince gave away most of central Vietnam as a dowry for a Viet bride. She is said to be the most expensive bride of all time. Da Nang is also famous for its beaches. They are world class, and the rapid pace of resort development reflects that. Driving along what was known by the Americans during the war as ‘China Beach’, you could really see the place changing, and it is happening quickly. You see megaresorts on one side of the road and villas, and apartments, and evidence of lots of new money, and on the other side of the road you can see the remnants of the displaced culture. Farmers are becoming shopkeepers and construction workers, and everywhere you look you can see bulldozed land and construction materials. The Vietnamese have an amazingly progressive attitude toward it all, in that they know it benefits them economically, and they are happy for it, so they tolerate things like having their favourite fishing spots being privatized for tourists. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anywhere in the world that is so open to change for the sake of foreign investment. For better or worse, Vietnam is changing rapidly. I have to say, we appreciated all the little comforts such as a strong communication infrastructure where high speed internet was a given, not a luxury.
After Da Nang we were off to the charming little city of Hoi An, which is famous for its many tailor, shoe, and jewellery shops that will make custom fitted items for you in 24 hours. It is also a beautiful and tourist friendly city that has an old French quarter that is off limits to motorbikes (which is not always obeyed). We really enjoyed walking around the streets and browsing the many shops. We had a guided walking tour (though it was not necessary as the streets are very pedestrian friendly and things are very close), and we had a short river cruise to check out some spots on the fringe of the city. We also took the chance to to get some items made. Kim was after some dresses for New year’s Eve, and I loved the idea of getting some custom made shoes to fit my giant feet. Kim found a nice little shop called Trang that was right near our hotel with a very clever name, the Hoi An hotel. I also took the opportunity to get a ring made as the cheap travel rings we had been wearing that we got in Fiji finally broke on us, as they were just hematite. Here are some photos of our adventures in Hoi An…..
Lunch at a great little place called the Cargo Club…if you go here, have the vegetable curry soup…best 42,000 dong (about $2) you will ever spend….
River cruisin’ in Hoi An….
The Japanese covered bridge, going way back in history to when Hoi An was a large trading port on the silk road. Another interesting fact is that during typhoon season, this bridge and most of town will be covered by flood for days on end….hard to fathom but apparently true…
An embroidery shop, another tourist draw to Hoi An. They had beautiful hand embroidered artwork that we wish we had room for in the luggage…
This poor girl who gave us the tour was able to speak enough English to deliver the tour, but had a hard time catching a few of my jokes about patio lanterns and baby silk worms. Kim felt bad because I think the tour guide thought Kim was laughing at her…
One of the many custom shoe making shops in Hoi An…..pretty much all the shops are either shoemakers, tailors, or jewellers…
Of course we took the opportunity to get some custom shoes made at a price we could afford. Here’s Kim contemplating the infinite possibilities….
Pretty simple process really, at least for the flip flops we had made. They just trace your foot on a piece of paper and measure the height of your feet. Easy.
And Kim could not stop at just shoes. At these prices why not take the opportunity to get clothing custom made t your specifications and exact measurements. Here’s Kim being fitted for a few outfits she had made……
Apart from having dirt cheap custom shoes fit for giant feet, Hoi An also had a local beer on offer called Larue that could be had for 4000 dong per glass, which is about 20 cents. Cheers!
And now some street scenes from our walking about in Hoi An….
This lady was chewing betel nut, not sure if it has any psychotropic properties, but she sure was happy, and that made us happy…
Kim snapped this one a father teaching his little boy about how to clean fish, a very necessary skill for local people…..
Our second day in Hoi An we got to take a tour of the My Son (mee shoon) ruins, another remnant of the Champa culture now displaced. It was really neat, but they have had a hard time keeping the buildings intact, with only one of many complexes still intact. They are reconstructing many currently, but we were glad to see what was still standing. Again, hard to describe and easy to show……
More panoramas, which we cant get enough of now that we have this new camera
Our guide, Na, is in this one and is sporting her umbrella and sun hat, again to keep her skin fair…..
After the My Son tour, it was back to Hoi An for another leisurely night strolling the streets. We really loved the atmosphere of Hoi An, and if anyone of any age is planning a visit to Vietnam, we highly recommend you see it. The next day we awoke to rain, and were sad to have to leave Hoi An. But we knew we had yet even more great things planned for us in Hue, the ancient capital of Vietnam, during the time of the emperors and dynasties. We visited the Imperial City, including the citadel, the forbidden city. Now I will ask you to please hold your laughter, as her misfortune is now becoming comical, but I have to tell you of yet another injury for Kim. This time while descending the stairs at the gates of the Imperial City, Kim had a fall that was quite concerning. The stairs were wet, and they are of course well used due to the high volume of tourists, so they are extremely slippery. Kim started falling, and since it was raining and quite cold, she had her hands in her pockets and could not do much to brace herself or stop her fall. It was hard to watch, myself, and our guide, Na, were both at the top of the staircase above Kim as she fell, and there was nothing we could do. I was just thinking please don't hit your head and try to sit down. Na also looked terrified. After some twisting and turning Kim eventually stopped, and she got up quickly and laughed at herself, so that was a relief. She figured she got away with just a few bruises on her legs. But after a few hours her toe was feeling quite sensitive, and we’re quite sure it is broken. So she has braced it and is hoping for it to heal quickly. She is fine and this one is just a small issue we can live with. So no need to worry, and its okay to laugh---we both did. Here are some photos of our visit to Hue.
Kim with Na, sometime after the fall, feeling fine….
Na took this one, she said it is much better when you get a perfect reflection
This one shows the long historic connection between the Buddhists and the Nazis…..
That was obviously a joke. If you believed me, go directly to jail. Do not pass go and do not collect $200. We were explained that the symbol that looks similar to a swastika is the same meaning as the yin and yang symbol.
This one is a fun photo because it looked to me like happy Buddha was on his cell phone….
Monks, monks, and more monks. There are places of worship everywhere. This is true not only in Vietnam, but has been a theme throughout Asia thus far. It seems religious ritual is more part of their daily lives here than it is for most western religions.
Emperor Goofball…..
After a full afternoon of touring we were dropped at our hotel, the Huong Giang Hotel, which was again impressive. We really love how far a dollar goes in Vietnam. We were pretty exhausted and didn't feel like venturing out in the rain, so we found a little pizza delivery place that worked out great—it wasn't Pizza Pizza but for impromptu pizza delivery in Vietnam we were impressed. The next morning we woke up and had another lovely hotel breakfast featuring lots of fresh fruit and sampling some of the local mystery dishes. Our day was filled by visiting the tombs of a few of the emperors in the countryside around Hue. Each tomb reflects the personality and character of the emperor buried there. We visited two very different tombs that certainly reflected different personalities. One was a nice laid back modest (as much as an emperor’s tomb can be) complex in the forest, and the other was an over the top gaudy glam-fest.
It was interesting to think about how people with the means and ability choose to immortalize themselves. Obviously as an emperor you probably develop quite an ego, but it was interesting to see some contrast in how a few of those with unlimited means chose to make their final resting place and physical legacy. Anyhow, a few photos of our tour...
We may have been visiting tombs, but we kept the mood pretty light. Here’s Kim trying to blend in…..
After the tombs we were headed to the airport in Hue to board our flight to Hanoi, the biggest city in northern Vietnam. We arrived from our Vietnam Airlines flight and were greeted by our guide as we were becoming accustomed to with all the fantastic service we were receiving from Ann Tours, our one-stop-shop Vietnam tour booking choice. When we arrived we had a small complication to explain to our guide. We had orders from Kim’s doctors to get some follow-up tests to confirm she has rid herself of her parasite, so we thought we would take advantage of a driver and English speaking assistance from the guide. However, nothing is as easy as it may seem. We asked the guide to take us to a hospital and help us explain the tests we needed. Well he made an attempt at it, but he was no medical expert himself, so after about 30 minutes of frustrating communications where he was insisting he could get them to understand while we tried to bite our tongue that we could tell he was wasting his time, we decided to move on from the first location. Our guide explained to us that he had a date that night and that we may be better off waiting until the morning to take care of the testing. That turned out to be decent advice, and after a nice night’s sleep in the Medallion Hotel in Hanoi, we woke early to head out the International SOS Clinic where they spoke very good English and instantly understood what we needed. They were expensive, but it was the only option we had, and we have insurance so, whatever! Anyhow, I am happy to report that the tests revealed that Kim is parasite free, and just for good measure I was tested as well and also no parasite. Now we could put that whole mess behind us and focus on enjoying northern Vietnam, starting with our full day tour of Hanoi.
Our first stop on the Hanoi tour was the Mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh. Maybe we were ignorant about what a mausoleum was, but we were both very surprised about the whole experience. It was weird. First of all it was a circus of tourists, with lines and sub lines and security checks and screenings, and a gradual progression towards a hands at your sides, no talking, look sombre, no cameras or devices of any kind, single file march around a large room containing Ho Chi Minh’s very well preserved remains. So it was interesting to see, but we did not like being herded as we were. However, if you’re in the neighbourhood, I suppose we can still recommend a visit. We also learned at this stop that Hanoi is celebrating its 1000th anniversary this year, being founded in 1010, it is I think the oldest city we have ever been in (that we know of). At this stop we also saw the Presidential Palace and One Pillar Pagoda, both of which were not all that interesting to be honest. After the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum we went to the Ethnology museum, where our guide tried very hard to make a boring museum interesting. I suppose it would have been interesting if your only stop in all of Southeast Asia were this one museum, but we have the luxury of actually being able to travel to all the places featured in the museum and meet many of the different tribes and peoples whose cultures were on display. So we moved through that pretty quickly as well. We did enjoy driving around the city, particularly near the West Lake area and the French quarter. We saw the Temple of Literature, which is Vietnam’s oldest university – also boring I’m afraid, even for Kim who is a proud member of the education system. The most interesting stop of the day was probably the Hoa Lo prison, known by Americans as the Hanoi Hilton. It had a very long history about the different time periods in Vietnam’s history and we learned some things about the various foreign occupations that had taken place. We learned also about the American experience during the war, which relative to the brutality we saw in southern Vietnam and the men actually out fighting, I think the prisoners of war had it pretty good. We finished our day with a water puppetry performance (an art form unique to North Vietnam), and a cyclo ride through the French quarter before settling in at our hotel after the long day. Here are some photos...
A couple taking wedding photos near one of the lakes on the red river….
Wide load…..
Our cyclo ride….
The next day was something we were really looking forward to, as we had heard all about it from other people we met saying it was the highlight of their time in Vietnam, and that was the overnight cruise in Halong Bay. Like the rest of the accommodations we had in Vietnam that were all arranged through our tour operator Ann Tours, we were travelling in style for this part of the trip, aboard one of the nicer boats out in Halong Bay run by Paradise Cruises. They call these boats ‘junks’, but that name is not really appropriate, as most are well outfitted and even the competition looked pretty darn comfortable. We were told that Paradise cruises are #1, and we can believe that, as we were treated quite well. At this point I have to mention that our tour guide in Central Vietnam, named Na (she works freelance, if you need a guide in central Vietnam, ask for her), deserves big thanks, as she learned it was our honeymoon and made a point to tell the company to go out of their way to get special bonuses for us for the rest of our time in Vietnam. Our cabin aboard the cruise was probably the nicest touch, with a nice bottle of champagne prepared for us, complimentary of course, along with a dozen roses and rose petals decorating the bed. Nice touch. We are constantly thankful for our good fortune in life and the great things we have been able to experience on this trip, we try to not take anything for granted and savour all these moments. It has all been so amazing. Halong Bay is no exception, it is a beautiful place and the cruise was a great way to see it. I can’t really do justice to much of it with words alone, so again here are some photos to help illustrate....
Enjoying our champagne on our balcony….savouring a moment….
Look closely at the small boat on the right, a little boy is paddling it entirely with his feet----it was quite impressive. Everybody needs a gimmick…..
Awaiting the small boat back to our big junk….I know, still sounds dirty to me too, but its not!
A climb up to a small pagoda on a very steep hill….big climb, good views…
Halong Bay was unfortunately the last bit of scheduled service in our Vietnam tour, and after disembarking we had a 3 hour ride back to Hanoi where we would spend our last night. We spent the evening doing some shopping and walking around the French quarter and trying not to get run over by motorbikes, it was fun! We were both very sad for our time in Vietnam to be coming to an end. The good news is that we are now on our way to Bangkok where we will be meeting Craig, and we are very excited for our Koh Chang Christmas. We will try to make a post again as soon as we can. Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
Cheers,
The Knotty Travellers
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