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Ha Long Bay, Vietnam
The beautiful Ha Long Bay with its sugarloaf mountains is a spectacular natural wonderCrossing the border from Laos into Vietnam, it was immediately obvious that we were in a very different country. While the roads in Laos had been somewhat "under-maintained" (i.e. bumpy) the roads in Vietnam were paved, but instead of verdant fields and forests next to the road as we drove by, there were clear signs of industrial development - ramshackle villages, factories, smokestacks, fields of rubble and partially constructed buildings.
After a twelve hour bus journey to Ninh Binh (including the worst meal so far at a very dodgy place where Janice slipped and fell down the stairs because they were so wet and muddy), we finally arrived and settled into our hotel desperately hoping that the rest of our time in Vietnam was going to be better than our introduction.
The next morning we headed off in better spirits as we were on our way to the world heritage listed Ha Long Bay - hailed as one of the most beautiful spots in South East Asia. Pulling up in the carpark near the dock at which we would board our boat, the first impression was "oh, oh - tourist trap". The place was absolutely teeming with foreigners from
all over the world with almost as many locals manning stalls of every type trying to sell last minute snacks, beer, water and various other knick-knacks and souvenirs. However, once we'd boarded our boat and set sail the crowds fell away and we were on our way to see the natural wonder that is Ha Long Bay.
More than 3,000 limestone islands soar from the turquoise ocean creating a vista that is difficult to describe in a way that does it justice. Unfortunately, the weather on our two day journey across the bay wasn't great, but the clouds and mist did add something to the mysterious atmosphere created by our surroundings. Nevertheless, we had a great time and went kayaking around the bay, did some swimming (though the water was pretty cold) and visited one of the larger caves (which again was packed with people!).
After a spectacular thunder and lightning storm on our last evening, it was time to repack and head off for the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi. There is only one word that can describe Hanoi - CHAOS - not that it is a bad place, it's just that every person in the city of 3.5
Chaos....
The word that defines Hanoi is Chaos....crossing the street there is an adrenalin sport million has an "every man for himself" attitude going on all the time. Crossing the street here is an adrenaline sport - you literally step off the sidewalk in the path of motorbikes, scooters and bicycles (try to avoid buses, trucks and cars) and hope that they will swerve around you until you get to the other side. The other trap is that footpaths aren't necessarily reserved for walking - they're for parking motorcycles, small cars, having impromptu card or dice games, lunch, dinner, setting up stalls etc - unfortunately this means that most of the time when you're trying to get somewhere you have no choice but to spend a great deal of time dodging the traffic while walking along the edge of the road.
Once we had arrived at our hotel, we headed out for a look at the "Old Quarter" - which we mistakenly thought would be similar to the HuTongs of Beijing - what we found were streets and streets of hawkers, stalls and souvenir shops and a great mass of people, traffic and bicycles that you have to avoid at every turn. After wandering around for a while, we made our way towards Hoan
Reflections
Bridge crossing the Lake of the Restored Sword which feature strongly in the story about the founding of Vietnam Kiem Lake and Ngoc Son Temple the historical heart of the Old Quarter - it is here that according to legend Emperor Ly Thai was given a sword by Heaven which he used to vanquish Vietnam's enemies (ie. the Chinese); once he was successful he returned the sword to a great, golden tortoise that lived in the depths of the lake. The remains of a great tortoise lie embalmed in the temple today as a reminder of this legend. That evening we all went to a water puppet show - it was interesting and told the story of the legend we had learned about during the afternoon, but we were relieved once it was finished.
The next morning we headed out to visit the Hoa Lo Prison (Hanoi Hilton) which was used to house American POWs during the "American War", including Republican candidate John McCain; and the Temple of Literature, a university for the education of Mandarins since the 11th Century. The next few hours were spent aimlessly wandering around the city watching the locals going about their business. The following day, we visited the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and got to see the slightly orange tinted body of
The Hanoi Hilton
Prison where US POWs were detained during the Vietnam, or as it's known in Vietnam, the American War the great "Uncle Ho" - the set-up here is quite strange; long queues of Vietnamese and tourists slowly shuffling their way forward into the mausoleum and then around the raised glass coffin of the venerated leader; all kept in a quiet and respectful silence by the very serious looking guards stationed at regular intervals throughout the building. After visiting a museum devoted to communist propaganda we headed out for lunch with a couple of our traveling companions and then set out on our own for a bit of shopping - as I was specifically looking for some computer related items, we headed to a part of town we hadn't been to before and while walking along the street trying not to get run over, a large, mangy looking black dog with a large open wound on its back came leaping from the shadows of a small shop and took a decent chunk of flesh from the back of my leg. Imagine my surprise....there I was in Hanoi, home of more dog bites and rabies cases than any other city in Asia (and Asia has over 50% of world-wide rabies cases) and all of a sudden I am bitten in an
Dog Attack!
Wound sustained when I was bitten by a mangy looking dog in the streets of Hanoi....five rabies shots later and I have started foaming at the mouth yet. unprovoked (and unseen) dog attack. So, I'm standing on this dirty, dusty street of Hanoi holding a disinfectant wipe against my leg (thank God Janice was with me) to soak up the blood and the ten or more guys sitting around the shop from which the dog attacked, do......nothing. They don't come over to see what happened or make sure I'm ok; they just sit there looking at me with little more than passing curiousity. After a few minutes, the blood flows a little more slowly so I decide to keep on looking at the shops in the hope that I will find what I was looking for and the bite will have been worth it. Unfortunately, this is not to be and because we're in an area off the "beaten path", we have to walk almost all the way back to the hotel and by then the wound is starting to sting a bit more.
Once we get back, the rest of our group springs into action and the bite gets properly disinfected, bandaged and taken care of (thanks again Drew!). It is then that Carole, our fearless tour leader, begins to get concerned as there wasn't enough
time to get medical treatment before we board the overnight train to Hue. At one point she suggested that we temporarily leave the tour, but I'm able to show enough paperwork and remember previous injections (which later turn out to be wrong) that she's ok with us continuing, provided I begin the rabies treatment as soon as we get to the next major city.
Then it was onto the train and once settled in I started to read the medical book in our first aid kit - it was when I saw "symptoms can set in within 72 hours and once they have death is imminent within 7 - 10 days" that I really started to worry. The next morning we arrived in Hue, former capital during the years of the Nguyen Empire, and after a remarkably good nights rest we set off for a tour of the ancient Citadel, Tu Doc tombs and Song Huong river with our highly energetic, very knowledgeable and friendly local guide, Mr Tam. That afternoon we all clambered aboard small motorcycles behind a local driver and set off for a tour of Hue's outlying villages and rural areas - this was one of
the highlights of our time in Vietnam!
That evening after a so, so meal at one of the tourist restaurants, a group of us set off to find desert and ended up at Mandarin Cafe, owned by Mr Cu an exceptionally good photographer with some great shots of life around Hue. This was particularly interesting to me as I had arranged to go with Mr Tam (who's also a professional photographer) early the next morning on a Photo/Moto tour of Hue and the surrounding countryside. In short, the countryside around Hue - the rice paddies, the sun rising over the river as the fisherman ply their trade, the early morning vegetable market - is beautiful and a great place to capture the 'essence' of rural Vietnam (I hope you get a feel for this from the photos).
A few hours later we arrived in Hoi An (after a brief stop in Danang to get a rabies and tetanus injection), a small town on the banks of the Thu Bon River that could almost (if you squint just a bit and overlook the hordes of tourists milling about the tailor shops) be stuck in a time warp from a
Old Lady, Hoi An
This old woman really enjoyed chewing her betel nut as you can tell... few hundred years ago. The UNESCO world heritage listed "Old Town" is something of a living museum as its buildings and streets have been preserved as they were in years gone by. While it is a fun and interesting place to wander around; watching the locals down by the river and at the markets was great; the time we spent there ended up being consumed by fittings and re-fittings at one of the town's many, many tailor shops. I had a suit, some shirts and several pairs of shorts made, while Janice got a few dresses, some shorts and a couple of blouses - unfortunately most of these items are now falling apart or have shrunk and no longer fit.....hmmm. In addition to it's photogenic qualities, Hoi An is also blessed with some excellent restaurants, bars and cafes, which we frequented quite a bit (between fittings of course!).
On our final day in Hoi An, we took a day trip along with several others out to the fantastic, World Heritage listed Champa ruins at My Son. The Hindu oriented temple complex was constructed from the 4th Century and consists of around 20 to 70 temples; with only about 20
temples surviving the ravages of time and American bombing during the Vietnam War. The complex was in use for religious ceremonies, royal coronations and burials until the 13th Century making it the longest occupied of all the major monuments in South East Asia. Though relatively small and encroached upon by the jungle, it is a special place that gives you a sense of the advanced society that created them. Even with all of today's technology, we still haven't figured out how the temples constructed of brick were held together as they show no evidence of mortar - theories abound, including vegetable resin and a complete "firing" of the buildings (similar to a making a vase or pot).
Another rabies shot as we left Danang (two down, three to go), and it was onto a short (but VERY delayed) flight to the bustling city formerly known as Saigon, now officially called Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) after the city was 'liberated' by the Viet Cong on 30th April, 1975. Arriving in Saigon almost five hours later than planned, we were welcomed to the city by the realization that the airline had not loaded our bags onto our flight - they
had just decided that the plane was too heavy (thanks to a huge group of older European tourists with huge suitcases) and had put our bags onto the next flight!! Given that we had nothing to unpack, we went straight out to a very authentic street stall and had some great Vietnamese food before heading back and finding that our bags had finally joined us.
The next day, we headed out for a tour of the Cu Chi tunnels the tunnel system that in it's heyday stretched from near Saigon to the Cambodian border and allowed the Viet-Cong to wage a "ghostly" guerilla war against American troops stationed in the area. After the US infantry proved unable to defeat the Vietnamese guerilla fighters that could disappear and reappear like "ghosts" the US air force bombed the area until it was pockmarked with moon-like craters.
After visiting these tunnels and crawling around inside one that even though it had been "widened" to accommodate Westerners was still incredibly claustrophobic, you come away with a new respect for the soldiers that spent months or years living in tight quarters under the ground constantly afraid of being bombed or hit by heavy
artillery. While at Cu Chi, I also got to indulge my Rambo fantasy by firing ten rounds of an AK47 machine gun, the standard issue for many armies.
That afternoon back in Saigon, we went on a cylco tour and visited many of the city's main sights, including the former Presidential Palace, before heading over to the War Remnants Museum - a grueling, confronting and shocking look at the Vietnam / American War, including many of the atrocities committed by US forces, including the horror of the My Lai massacre - it is shocking what war can do to what are probably very normal people in usual circumstances. Seeing the war described from a perspective other than the "Western" one which I grew up with was certainly an enlightening experience.
With evening coming on, we headed to a posh high-rise hotel for sunset drinks in the rooftop bar before heading out for our final meal in Vietnam!!
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Allan
non-member comment
Thank you for the entry!
I love reading your entries and this one in particular as I visited many of the spots you did. Reading this brought back lots of memories especially crawling through the Cu Chi tunnels and missing out on firing the different guns. Definitely going to have to go back for that.