VIETNAM
Departing Laos was quite the stitch. The Luang Prabang Airport is very small and looks more like a bus terminal than an airport. The security was funny, and the departure board was made of magnetic numbers. When I pointed to our flight to show Shaun when we were departing, the numbers of the departure time fell to the ground. Whoops!
On Laos Air, the pilot struggled to speak English, the safety instructions were practically non-existent, and the plane vibrated...noisily..., but it was the most efficient flight I've ever been on! We were on and off in a flash, and they even served us a box lunch! (Ham and Cheese Sandwiches!)
HANOI
Once in Hanoi, our hotel was a pleasant sight: not having to squat or throw toilet paper in a separate trash bin felt like a luxury! We walked to a nearby night market (night markets are a dime a dozen in S.E. Asia) and found a nice Vietnamese restaurant for dinner. (I will miss the food of this region!) This section of Hanoi slightly resembled (a mini) Hong Kong. The streets are more narrow, and more chaotic than Saigon. It seemed like a place one wouldn't get bored in easily. And while I liked Hanoi a lot, I'm surprised that people (the ones who spoke with me, anyhow,) unanimously like Hanoi better than Ho Chi Minh (Saigon). Ho Chi Minh City is a bit more quaint, but you really can't compare the two!
HANOI DAY 1
This was the day of our Ha Long Bay trip. Ha Long Bay is a series of limestone islands, not unlike the ones in Phang Nga Bay Thailand, except the Vietnamese jumped on the tourism exploitism boat a bit more, and now loads of companies charter overnight cruises to Ha Long Bay to see the wonders of nature that exists there. We jumped on the band-wagon (err, junk boat) to join in the masses to see the wonders. And believe me, it was well worth it. Before we caught the bus to port town, however, we walked around Hanoi a bit. Here's what we saw:
It was about a three-hour drive to Ha Long Bay and we stopped at a rest-area where locals were weaving silk into pictures. It was beautiful artistry! And then we arrived in the grungy port-town and boarded our junk boat, on Bhaya Cruise.
HA LONG BAY
The Ha Long Bay cruise was great! Very peaceful, picturesque, relaxing. They showered us with rose petals as we boarded the ship (a bit cheesy). We sat on deck and had lunch, which was a spread that included giant prawns and crabs, I, of course, was in heaven. Here's what we saw as we dined on deck:
After lunch, we got off board and were rowed to a fishing village, this was unlike the villages in Thailand or Cambodia I had seen previously. We saw a school house in the village and watched the process of cultivating pearls. A man was placing pearls back into their shells to be put back into the sea for two years.
This is Lynn, a Vietnamese woman who was on holiday. She's a dentist.
Once back on the ship, there was a cooking demonstration (Vietnamese Spring rolls), after which we had a drink at the bar, and met a couple from Texas (originally from South Africa and Kenya). We ate dinner with the couple, and then the ship screened the movie Indocine, which is a beautifully shot French movie that takes place in the Ha Long Bay region.
HA LONG BAY DAY 2
I woke up to the spectacular sight of Ha Long Bay's limestone islands drifting past my window. This day's excursion was to a cave; much more impressive (bigger at least) to the one in Laos we went to. The presentation, at least, was impressive, as the lighting design made the cave look like a disco! Afterwards, we met a couple from Dubai on the ship deck, and had a farewell brunch.
We got back to Hanoi mid afternoon. I had a mini-sight seeing excursion mapped out for us. We were staying in an old, traditional neighborhood that had preserved some original "tube houses." One, was open to the public, on 87 My May street (right across the street from our accommodations). This is a typical shop that opens up onto the street, and the lodging is upstairs/in the rear. We explored the side streets of the Old Quarter, and wound up in a shop that custom-makes wood (carved) stamps. I had a few made for my nieces and nephews, and then one with my email address. Then to what they call the Bai Hoi corner, where you sit on small step-stools and drink very cheap, and very gross beer at about $4000 Dong (that's about 20 cents). "Bai Hoi" is a Vietnamese beer that is fermented for a day and has a stale taste to it. Hence, the low low prices. We stopped in a propaganda store, and then made our way to the French Quarter.
HANOI DAY 3
Early rise and a moped ride (Shaun was freaking out) to the Temple of Literature: Vietnam's oldest university dating back to the 11th Century. There were lots of school kids on what seemed to be a field trip. People kept taking photos of them: I took photos of the people taking photos. The kids were not meant to be a tourist attraction!
Shaun left for Cambodia, and I stayed on in Hanoi. After Shaun left, I hired a moped driver to take me to Lenin Park, which I had read about in the guidebook; the guidebook made it sound spectacular! I can't understand why. This was by far one of the spookiest places I've ever been, and not in a good way. And deserted. It was like an abandoned theme-park. There were NO tourists there, which normally I would think is a good thing, but not in this case. A train track randomly ran through the park and the "lake" that the guidebook referenced, was really a landfill. I crossed a bridge to nowhere.... and back
Afterwards, I explored the French Quarter and its many art galleries. Saw a great photo gallery, and had lunch with locals in a side-street, narrow alley way. They were definitely making fun of me, but that's the price you pay to eat for only $9,000 dong. I took a look at the opera house (below), had some Pho by the lake district, and meandered back to the old district.
HANOI DAY 4
Saw Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum and Presidential palace (for real this time!) They call him Bac Ho (or, Uncle Ho), and he's embalmed here. There is a very long line to get it, and once near the entrance, it feels very formal. Guards in white line the place, red carpets as you enter. It's a bit of pomp and circumstance. You walk up the stairs and around the corner where Bac Ho lies still, embalmed, under glass. It's spooky...unreal, almost... in fact, I question if it's not wax...
Afterwards, I toured his complex. Saw the presidential palace, the house he lived in until 1954, with a three-car garage, and a randomly caged peacock, and his stilt house, which he "lived in" from 1954 to his death. (This is not like the stilt houses you see in Kampongs in Indonesia, however), these were some pretty nice digs.
I went back to the old quarter and found a traditional coffee joint, filled with only locals, who all sit on those tiny step stools, with mopeds parked inside the shop and art hung on the wall; great art! I rewrote a play I had due coming up (I wrote the previous draft in a hammock in Thailand.)
I spent the next few hours at the "Hanoi Hilton," which is the old, Hao Lo Prison. The first half of the tour was very grim, and it covered the history of the place, when it was a French-controlled prison. It was gruesome to see how the Vietnamese were treated under French control. I couldn't believe that Guillotines were still being used in 1954! The second half of the tour was seeing where the American POW's were held (including John McCain's cell/ pilot's uniform), when the prison was back under Vietnamese control. And you're shown a video about how kind and just the Vietnamese treated the American prisoners and all the "fun activities" the Americans got to do in prison: checkers, volleyball, ping-pong, etc. It was made to look like summer camp! The through-line of the movie seemed to be: "We wanted the Americans to get to know the people they were fighting, and come to know that it was a sad choice." The video even said the American were treated better than the Vietnamese prisoners.
This was the end of my trip! I got back on a plane to Singapore and went to class in a matter of hours.
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