Same same but different: Vietnam

 

Sorry for such a lag in updates. We were presented with the choice of lying on white sandy beaches in Thailand or sitting in a hot internet cafe and we have a nice tan to show for our decision. I’ll apologize in advance for the lengthy post but in an effort to catch up I’m writing about our entire time in Vietnam.

Hanoi

So, We’ve finally left China – Allelujah!- and boarded a night train to cross the border into Vietnam. We didn’t get much sleep as we had to stop twice to get off at the Chinese and Vietnamese immigration offices but we did meet some nice folks along the way. Sometimes you meet a person who really inspires you and makes you stop and take a look at your own life. Bill was one of those people. He is a 70 something retired US Marine who travels the world alone. He walks with a cane and talks to anybody who will listen. Bill began his world travels 5 years ago after his wife died, only stopping for treatment when he was diagnosed with cancer. As soon as he got the all clear he was off again spending time in places completely off the beaten track. He sat and told stories to us in the restaurant car of our overnight train and we all listened to his stories.

We arrived in Hanoi around 4 am and was lucky enough to have met an extremely generous English woman who offered to pay for our (and some other travellers) taxi to our hostel as we hadn’t had the chance to exchange for Vietnamese Dong.  After a quick nap we had a wander around the cities Old Quarter in search for food. The streets are heaving with motorbikes all fighting to get ahead of each other. The sidewalks are packed with parked motorbikes blocking a safe passage so walking in the city is no easy feat. The only break in the parked bikes on the sidewalks are for the small restaurants to set up their baby sized plastic tables and chairs. There are hundreds of these restaurants all serving local food and all of them are always packed with both locals and foreigners.  I was on a mission to find a Pho restaurant as it has been one of my favorite foods since my best friends mom made it for us when we were young. We weren’t disappointed as they are everywhere. My first bowl of Pho was amazing.

First bowl of Pho. delicious.

Crossing these roads is no easy feat 

Street stalls selling fresh herbs, spices and seafood

Brightly colored lanterns

The next day we left the hostel and passed on the constant offers for a motorbike ride (how the two of us and a driver would fit comfortably on a bike, I don’t know) opting to walk the city instead. We walk into a well to do area lined with large houses in old French architecture. I assume they house important government officials since they are all heavily guarded and we are shooed away when we try to take pictures. A quick stop at Ho Chi Minhs tomb, the leader of the communist regime and a much beloved figure in Vietnam, to snap photos but unfortunately it has already closed for the day. Normally, Ho Chi Minh is displayed for visitors in a glass casket (yikes) –despite his dying wishes to be cremated… but his body was on a restoration trip to Russia at the time.

Huge mansions lining the well to do street

Ho Chi Minhs tomb

Next on the tour was the ‘Hanoi Hilton’, originally used by the French to house Vietnamese revolutionaries and later to hold American prisoners of war. There’s not much left of the building as much of it has been knocked down to make room for tower blocks but we walk into the entrance through thick walls topped with broken glass. The first part of the building told stories of the Vietnamese prisoners held there. Bleak stories of mistreatment, statues of emaciated prisoners and torture devices filled the dark and damp rooms. Any reference to the revolutionaries were spoke of highly and they were spoke of as courageous patriots. Next on the tour, and the part I was most interested in, was the area where the American prisoners of war were once held. Guide books mention the blatant propaganda in these places but seeing it in person is completely different. A video played about the Vietnam war naming Americans as war criminals and baby killers. They showed the bombing that took place on Vietnam soil and told how they courageously fought us off. They had a flight suit supposedly from John McCain when he was captured and featured pictures of Americans while they were imprisoned. The picture they painted of the Americans time in the prison is completely different than the previous rooms full of horror stories. Photos of American soldiers decorating Christmas trees and playing basketball cover the walls. The torture and malnutrition is left out of these descriptions.

Haunting statues of Vietnamese prisoners

John McCains flight suit from when he was captured during the war

The outer walls covered in broken glass

Next on our walking tour was the Temple of Literature, Vietnams first University is almost 1000 years old. We walked through the beautiful courtyard lined with stone turtles and statues. That day a class was celebration graduation and the grounds were covered with excited teenagers in traditional dress in a rainbow of bright colors. That night we ate Pho, again, and had drinks and watched football (soccer) at an Irish pub.

Turtle statues that lined the courtyard

Excited recent grads in beautiful traditional clothes

Ha Long Bay

The next day we had arranged a 2 day boat tour to Halong Bay, a breath taking bay full of limestone hills. We drove the distance to the bay chatting  with the small group of people we would spend the next few days with. We boarded our boat and was pleasantly surprised by how nice it was after hearing tons of horror stories about rip off trips. Before we left the hotel we mentioned in passing that we are on an extended honeymoon of sorts. The lady apparently told the tour guide who gave us the best room and sprinkled rose petals on our bed. They also gave us a bowl of fresh fruit and a complimentary bottle of wine that we chose to share with the rest of the group. We were really touched by the act of kindness as we have spent the last two and a half months avoiding rip offs and scams.

We had a quick lunch of fresh seafood and rice and arrived at our first stop, the caves. There were 3 in all dubbed the “Surprise” caves because the get progressively bigger (and your tour guide hinds behind a rock and yells surprise every time you walk into a new one). Our tour guide, Ocean, pointed out oddly shaped stalactites and stalagmites and we played ‘guess what animal Ocean thinks that lumpy rock looks like'. Mark wasn’t impressed but I was, especially by the time we got to the last one that was the size of an airplane hanger. After we all waited for the Japanese couple that took a picture in front of every single rock (we were in a cave so this takes some time) we took a small boat to a floating village where we all climbed into double kayaks. Mark and I dashed off and only got into a dozen or so small tifts about paddle timing and finally sat back to enjoy the view. The water was emerald green and the hills towered around us. We were among plenty of other kayakers but it didn’t feel crowded and we even explored a few caves on our own. When our time was up we waited again for the snap happy couple and then re-boarded our boat to prepare for dinner and karaoke that night.

Inside the surprise caves

Dinner was delicious and the drinks flowed and we got to know our boat mates a bit better. We shared our bottle of wine-one bottle doesn’t really stretch to 16 people but they appreciated the gesture. Ocean cranked up the karaoke machine and we all sang into the night. Mark’s dedication to Ice Ice Baby practice at home on the Xbox paid off when he was given a standing ovation. It was a very good night.

Karaoke night

The next morning we had to check out of our room by 9am but we were determined to take a dip in the water before it was too late so we woke up extra early. Mark dove from the top and I chose the second deck but we quickly got out when the rush of cold water hit us. The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing on the sundeck while we cruised back to port.

Jumping off the boat

Vendors paddling all day to make a sale

When we arrived back at our hostel the manager told us there were no longer rooms available but they would be moving us to their sister location nearby-an upgrade for the same price. She told us she had a surprise for us and brought out a specially made chocolate cake that said ‘’Happy Honey'” on it in honor of our honeymoon. We were again, so touched by the effort they went to make us feel special and gave her a big hug and a slice of cake before we left.

Hoi An

We arrived in Hoi An the next day on an early flight. It is a lovely backpackers town packed full of tailor shops with restaurants and souvenir shops sprinkled in. Skinny roads criss cross throughout the town and motorbikes and pedestrians compete for space. The buildings are all old French architecture that give the place the feel of a sleepy European town until you come across a traditional old Vietnamese house.

The second day we purchased a package ticket that allowed us entrance into 5 different sights in town. We skipped out on the museums this time and started with the Tran Family Chapel. It is a beautiful house around 200 years old passed down through many generations of the same family. A guide showed us one room before she ushered us into the rest of the house that has sadly been converted into a gift shop.

Inside the Tran Family Chapel

The second stop was Dragon Bridge, where we decided to snap pictures from the outside instead of packing on the tiny passage with the other hoard of tourists.

Next, was the Duc House which was a beautifully decorated religious meeting place. It had a large fountain in the center of a dragon and a fish with mosaic tiles for scales. Gigantic incense spirals hung from the ceiling and the walls were covered in brightly colored paintings. At that point it started raining so we ducked into a riverside restaurant instead of finishing our tour.

The next day we boarded another group tour to the My Son ruins, a group of abandoned Hindu temples deep in the Vietnamese jungle. They were seriously damaged during the war by American bombers and our tour guide made sure to bring that up…multiple times. His animosity towards Americans was apparent and was probably passed down from his father, who he told us was a Viet Cong soldier. We decided to break away from the guide and we wandered through the paths that each led to hidden pockets of the jungle full of ancient temples. The jungle was beautiful but it was hard to not imagine visions of soldiers of both armies crawling through the dense vegetation in the bloody war.

Ancient Hindu temples in the Vietnamese jungle

Nah Trang

Mark and I had both really been looking forward to Nah Trang as it has a beautiful beach. The first beach we have come in contact with since setting off on our trip. Unfortunately, as soon as we stepped off the overnight bus the rains started and really didn’t let up the entire time we were there. Determined to see the ocean we threw on our waterproof jackets and walked down the beach anyway earning some odd looks from locals.

We ate at an amazing seafood restaurant and then sloshed through the puddles to a popular bar where we met two local girls who sold jewellery and postcards on the street. We really didn’t want anything but were so charmed by these girls that we ended up buying both and didn’t mind at all. We decided to cut our time at Nah Trang short because the rain showed no signs of stopping and the beach was the main attraction. We boarded a flight along with 15 Miss Earth Contestants (Note: Not Miss World the much better version) obviously on the only day during the entire trip I decided not to wear makeup and headed to Saigon.

Our lovely new friend and post card provider

Saigon

Saigon, Vietnams largest city, was full of energy the moment we stepped off the plane. We were dropped off near our hostel and eventually found it down a narrow alleyway. The woman who owned it greeted us with a smile and showed us to our room chatting about anything she could think of the whole time. When we left to get our bearings of the city we walked back down the alleyway and realized that it was mostly made up of peoples houses and it was really interesting to see locals sat outside eating together or chatting together, some in their pyjamas, living their normal lives. Its so rare in these cities to get a glimpse into the lives of people who live there because most of the interaction you get is with shop keepers, taxi drivers or tour guides. Also, while we were taking it all in a toddler peed on Marks foot, which, at least for me, added to the charm.

The next day we went to explore the city and came to the Reunification Palace, the site of the end of the Vietnam war, that happened to be closed for the day. We walked down the street to the war museum, formerly known as the American War Crimes Museum, I probably don’t have to explain what we found there but it did include the most graphic images and even a container of deformed foetus’.  There was, however, a really interesting photography exhibit highlighting the war photographers. These photos, to me, were much more powerful than the rooms full of mutilated bodies on the floor below. It was scorching hot that day and the constant fight with the ever present mob of motorbikes really got to me so we headed back to the safety of our hostel.

Reunification palace

That night we sat on plastic chairs outside of a tiny bar positioned on a busy intersection and just watched the chaos of Saigon. A constant stream of motorbikes and tuk tuks rolled by. Tourists walked with wide eyes and locals with determination. Later, Mark fell asleep in bed and I was up reading when I heard the faint sound of cheering. I thought I was going crazy but 30 minutes later when I was still hearing the sounds I got up to investigate. I grabbed the camera and ran into the street where hundreds of people had gathered to watch even more people on motorbikes drive by. They were all dressed in red and waving Vietnamese flags or golden trophies and cheers and horns filled the air. I later found out that they were celebrating the Vietnamese soccer teams win that advanced them into the semi finals of an Asian cup. It was such an unexpected surprise and the energy and excitement was contagious.

Just a normal intersection of Saigon..no traffic lights

Mid day snooze

Vietnam is easily one of the best countries I have ever visited. Although it is still tainted by the war it is thriving and has held on to its own identity. The food is some of the best we have come across and the people were some of the friendliest. It is definitely a place I hope to return to some day.

 

-H