Exploring Northern Vietnam

On Board the Halong Phoenix

Our Junk Boat--The Halong Phoenix Cruiser

We are adding to this post as we now have some optimal internet connection.  

A little bit about Halong Bay:

Halong Bay is another of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites, about 170km east of Hanoi. The bay is filled with limestone "mountains" and channels and was the setting of numerous naval battles. We learned the Surprising cave was occupied by US naval officers and the walls were marked with numerous soldier initials and dates. There is also a lagoon in Surprising Cave which is now nearly empty, but was once the sole fresh water supply for the surrounding floating villages. There is a rock inside the cave, actually shaped like a penis, that is considered a fertility stone. When the people of the villages were hoping to conceive a son, the woman would enter the cave naked and hug the stone. There is also a turtle shaped rock inside, as the turtle is regarded as a symbol of luck and longevity, people would pray, rub the head and leave an offering. The head of the turtle is now very shiny and smooth and a collection of money sits beside it.  

We learned a great deal about the water people of Halong Bay.  After many years, fisherman and their families have built small villages on the water, the largest village was said to be approximately 1000 people.  Because there came to be so many people living on the water, they had to build a hospital and schools for the children...all of the doctors and teachers working in these villages are volunteers.  The water people are very superstitious and do not set foot on land as it is believed they will be brought many years of bad luck and perhaps death.  They even bury their kin by sinking their coffins to the bottom of the bay.  The body is later retrieved, the bones sifted and burned and the ashes returned to the water on the 10th anniversary of their death.

Needless to say, we found this very interesting and thought we would share.

Water "Convenience Store", women from the nearby floating villages

Part of a Floating Village

Inside Surprise Cave

One of the caves we could tour - Surprise Cave

More Surprise Cave

 

Can you See the feet dangling over the edge?

At the Exit of Surprise Cave

After climbing 450 steps up the mountain

View from the top of one of the mountain we climbed

Hoan Kiem Lake, in the middle of the Old Quarter of Hanoi

Tet Fireworks Celebration over the lake--view from our balcony

We arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam on Monday evening around 7:30pm.  We could not have picked a busier time to visit (or so we thought)!  It took nearly 1 hour to reach our hotel, thankfully the taxi price of $25 USD was negotiated prior to departure.  The main freeway in to Hanoi moves along quite well, traffic flow would be improved with one simple alteration - drive in one lane and signal if you want to pull out and pass.  Everyone, other than scooters, drive in the middle of the 2 lanes and move over to one side or the other as necessary to pass.  And why signal when your vehicle is equipped with a horn?!  So, a throwback to Mexico, where a honk is notification you will be pulling around the person blocking your way.  However, this works well on Mexican roadways with traffic moving at 40km/h.  It is a whole new thing at 100km/h!!  Once we arrived in the Old Quarter, the Hoan Kiem District, we were transported to a whole new world.  This part of the city is made up of short, narrow, mostly one-way streets, where the same driving practices apply.  Add to the chaos storefronts with goods on the streets and no sidewalks, with pedestrians walking down both sides of the street.  Did I mention it was 2 days before the biggest holiday in most of Asia?  Chinese New Year (Tet) is February 3, so everyone that could be out, was.  With wide eyes, we arrived safely at our hotel. 


Part II of day one in Hanoi:
We asked the gentleman at the front desk for a recommendation for dinner -- understanding it was getting late and we just wanted a meal before crashing for the night, we requested somewhere close by.  There was a "western" restaurant at one end of the street and a small Vietnamese the other direction.  We were cold (it was only about 12 degrees) and looking for Noodle Soup (Pho).  So, we went to Tiki's (??) in search of authentic Vietnamese soup.  We were the only 2 in the restaurant and both ordered Pho with vermicelli noodles (I wanted rice noodles, but they had none, so vermicelli it was).  We ate the sub-par Pho, had some tea and headed back.  About the moment we walked in our room, we both looked at each other and Andre said he felt strange.  My head was woozy and tight (that's the only way I can explain it)...it was like feeling high (however that feels).  He immediately went and threw up his Pho and went to sleep.  I wasn't sick, but had the swooning feeling for quite a while before falling asleep.  Now remember, he ate his entire bowl, and me, well, I'm a little less adventurous when it comes to food, and I barely ate anything.  We will probably never know, but can't help feeling like we maybe had a little rufie-pho...maybe they wanted a little something more from us??

Tuesday morning we were up early to catch a van to Halong City.  We were spending 2 days and 1 night on board a boat (the Halong Phoenix Cruiser) in Halong Bay.  The bay is famous for its limestone mountains in the water (nearly 2000 of them) and 12 discovered caves (above and below the water surface).  The boat was quite nice and accommodated up to 32 people, for our cruise, there were around 20 of us.  We visited the Surprise Cave on shore and due to the uncooperative weather, the rest of the evening on the boat.  The food was quite delicious and plentiful.  It seemed as though they were feeding us a 5 course meal every 4 hours!  The next morning we ashore to the beach (too cold for swimming) and climbed the side of one of the mountains, 450 stairs, took some photos and down again.  The boat arrived back in the harbour around 12:30pm and we drove back to Hanoi.

Yesterday was "New Year's Eve" and our part of town was very busy.  We walked to Hoan Kiem Lake where they were setting up for fireworks.  Many of the locals closed their businesses early and would spend the evening with their families celebrating.  The fireworks were amazing and very loud!  We are staying just 2 blocks from the lake so were able to watch from our 4th story balcony.  I was skeptical when I heard that everything shuts down for Tet, but when we went out to find lunch and something to do...it was a ghost town!  No cars, no scooters, no honking!  It was all tourists walking about looking for anything to occupy their time.  Some restaurants and businesses opened up late in the day and we were able to enjoy a nice dinner, with the rest of the tourists in our area, at a more westernized restaurant.

Tomorrow we head south (Yippee!!!) to Ho Chi Min City (Saigon) in search of warm weather and sun.

Sorry for the absence of pictures - we do not have a solid wifi connection here in Hanoi.

Moving On

Today is our last day in Laos, and to be honest, we aren't that sad to be leaving.  It is a beautiful country, don't get me wrong, but a little sleepy and expensive.  We found little to do in Luang Prabang, and planned to be leaving yesterday (Sunday) for Vietnam.  Unfortunately we lost our connection while booking our flights online and when we were able to access the airline again, it was sold out.  So we had no choice but to fly to Vientiane, Laos, spend another day and then on to Hanoi in the evening (today).

Luang Prabang did; however, redeem itself with amazing waterfalls on Friday...and if it wasn't for that, this post would have been a little less sunny!  We planned to spend our last day in Laos at the Tad Sae Waterfalls.  We opted to join a guided van tour up to the falls for a few hours in the afternoon.  So, we stood out by the driveway and waited, and waited, and growing less patient, waited some more.  No show!  So, we took a tuk tuk into the town center and visited the company that sold us said seats.  The apologized profusely that they tried to contact our hotel but since the room was in Andre's name and the tour in mine, they didn't think we were staying there.  Lame excuse... I think Andre's exact words were "I f!*#ing hate this place!"

By this time it was about 3:30pm and we were prepared to go to the falls and had nothing else planned.  So, we hired a little tuk tuk truck to take us up on our own.  Redemption!!  The falls were really beautiful and it was a very scenic (although chilly) 37km drive through the mountains (keep in mind, our method of transportation...)

Our Car and Driver

The rickety wooden bridges we crossed along the way (view from our "seats")

Rice Fields along our scenic drive to the Falls

Tad Sae Waterfalls

At the top of the falls

We arrived here in Vientiane yesterday afternoon.  It is a really nice little city...still very quiet.  Perhaps there aren't many tourists here right now, or it had something to do with the time of day we were out.  The main road we came in on was dotted with a temple on each block (7 or 8), but the city looked promising.  As we walked around, we found more bakeries and coffee shops, but also a number of restaurants and lounges with patios overlooking the river.  But we're still not sure what one does in Vientiane, other than visit temples.  So today may be a very relaxed day before heading to the airport (Andre is currently taking in the Pro Bowl -- did I mention we had NO tv in Luang Prabang??)







That's all for now from Laos -- we will have more from Vietnam soon!