Hanoi and Hue

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I wrote most of this yesterday and planned to finish it this morning, but that didn't happen for a variety of reasons and I am too lazy to go through it and change what I had written, so I'll just add a bit about today here. Sorry if it is a bit of a mess. Today I was supposed to leave for Hoi An, a small city about 4 hours south of here. After hearing plenty about the flooding in Thailand and other parts of SE Asia, I had some firsthand experince with it today. When I woke up, the road by my hostel was covered in water. My hostel is near the end of the block, close to a main road that was still dry, so it wasn't bad by me. Farther down the road I could see people wading through with the water up to their ankles. Even farther the water was almost knee deep. Since it wasn't bad by me and it wasn't raining anymore, I walked up to the main road and checked out some other roads nearby. The next road over was dry, at least as far as I could tell. The one past that was swamped. This one was by one of the rivers and there was a crossing there, not really a bridge. From a couple days ago when I was there it looked almost like a dam, but I think it was some sort of bridge. Today the river was rushing over it, a bit of water was spilling into the roads by me. I walked the other way by the main river, which was overflowing its banks a little and flowing very fast. It was very brown and filled with floating branches. Other streets nearby were half-flooded as well, like the one by the hostel. They would be dry for a while and then suddenly the water would be a foot deep. All of this was from one day (and one night I assume) of non-stop rain. I can't imagine how bad it must have been, and still is in places like Thailand and Cambodia with the weeks of rain they had. Most of the day the hostel was without power (it went out sometime last night after I went to sleep) and running off of a backup generator. Luckily it didn't rain much. There were a few scattered rains that lasted a few minutes at most, but besides that it was very nice. Well other than the fact that I couldn't get very far without getting my feet wet. The flooding didn't seem to stop the locals though. People would plow through on their motorbikes like there was nothing wrong. There weren't many people out and many businesses were closed, but several were still open, even if you could only get to them by getting wet. I imagine that things will be fine in a couple days. If the rains don't come back that is. Tomorrow, if all goes as planned, I will be on my way to Hoi An, another historic city a few hours from Hue.

From yesterday:
I arrived in Hanoi on the first of November at about 5am. The train from China stopped in some tiny station out in the middle of some neighborhood on the outskirts of Hanoi. There was nothing there except a few taxi's waiting. I met a few Europeans on the train and in Nanning and we tried to negotiate with the taxi drivers, but they refused to give us a fair price, so we decided to walk the few km to the old quarter and our hostels. One of the drivers kept following us for nearly a mile before giving up. Even after stopping and trying to get us in his cab several times, he never offered anything reasonable. It was before dawn and very quiet, with only a few people out exercising. Nothing was open yet. By the time we crossed the Red river (the bridge seemed to extend forever), the sun had risen and the market there was already pretty lively looking. It wasn't far from there to our hostels. Mine was the farthest, but I found my way easily once I got a map from one of the other's places. I had to wait a while to get my room since when I got there it was still very early. The hostel was split up into a few buildings on either side of a small alley/street. It was a nice enough place with plenty of people around.

Hanoi doesn't have too much to see or do, but I really liked the city. It was busy and chaotic, but not as crazy as the Chinese cities in my opinion. There are many more motorbikes and scooters though. Hardly any cars or buses, which made traffic much more manageable. Crossing the street can be tricky. If you wait for the traffic to stop for a moment you will wait forever. You have to just wait for the mass of the motorbikes to thin out a little and just go for it. Luckily most roads in Hanoi seem to be one-way, so you really only have to pay attention to one direction, although occasionally a motorbike will come from the opposite direction. The old quarter, where I spent most of my time, had a very nice atmosphere to it. Well the pollution wasn't too nice, but I liked the architecture and lively feel of everything. The buildings are not tall, usually only a few stories tall, with a very colonial style. Most of them were very thin, which reminded me of Japan. It almost looked like a row of buildings had been squished and joined to the squished buildings from the neighboring blocks. I noticed that even outside of Hanoi, on my way to Ha Long Bay, in areas where there is plenty of space, the buildings are the same, just less dense. On each street there are usually a few spots where a cluster of small plastic stools indicated some sort of street restaurant. This is where most Vietnamese seemed to eat. Most of my meals were banh my's, small crispy baguettes cut open with some meat, cucumbers, and other delicious bits mixed in. Each for less than a dollar. I had a few other things, including some Pho and some noodle dishes, that were all good as well. So far no meal has cost more than a few dollars.

Most of my time in Hanoi was spent walking around the old quarter, although I went to a couple of museums - the army museum and an old prison from the French rule, as well as walked to Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum and the presidential palace. I saw a few signs for "Uncle Ho's house on stilts," where Ho Chi Minh apparently lived for a few years, but I didn't see it. The army museum was interesting, giving a different perspective on the Vietnam war. Most of the exhibits had to do with other conflicts, especially those against the Japanese and French in the first half of the 20th century. They had a collection of vehicles and aircraft, including a captured American transport helicopter that you could climb into. The prison museum was in the only part of the original prison that remains, the rest of the former complex has a couple of residential towers. The museum was small, but had some exhibits showing the conditions the Vietnamese patriots were held in by the French. There was a small room where they had a couple exhibits about the Americans POWs that were held there during the war. Most of the Americans held there were pilots shot down, and they had John McCain's flightsuit on display, from when he was shot down over Hanoi.

After a few nights in the city, I decided to do a Ha Long Bay cruise. It was probably the most expensive thing I have done so far, and it wasn't even that expensive, considering that it was for 2 days and one night with everything but drinks included. Ha Long Bay is about 180km from Hanoi. It takes forever to get there though, since the bus hardly broke 60km/h. The roads in Vietnam are so slow. The cruise was nice, although a few things irritated me. I didn't really have enough time to kayak around, and the spot we kayaked at wasn't too interesting. There didn't seem to be anyone managing the entire thing - several of us got shuffled off to a different boat, people got on and off the boat several times if they were doing a 3 day trip. Everything seemed a mess. The bay itself was very beautiful though. It had the same kind of scenery that I saw in the Guilin area, although this time it was coming out of the sea. The weather was nice, there was some sun and I got a little bit of a burn. We spent most of the time cruising to the destinations, rather than at a spot doing something. They provided plenty of food on the cruise. There was some seafood, some meat, some vegetables. It was good food, but nothing special. And they sold us drinks of course.

Before I had left for the cruise, I booked a bus ticket to Hue, scheduled to leave a little after I got back from the cruise. On the way back, though there were a few crashes and traffic slowed to a crawl, not that it was fast to begin with. I got back about half an hour after I was supposed to, but the girl at the desk made a call and a guy showed up a few minutes later on a motorbike and took me and my bags across the city to the hostel's other location where others were waiting for the bus. The bus apparently left at 7:00, thats when we got on, so I don't know why I was supposed to be ready to go at 5:30. The bus was a sleeper bus, with three rows of beds, two high. It was reasonably comfortable. In the confusion, I hadn't had a chance to get a bite to eat and by the time I realized I hadn't eaten since lunch before noon it was too late to get something. So I had to survive on the few pieces of candy I had in my bag. The seats reclined most of the way, almost horizontal, and once I was able to get to sleep I didn't have any trouble staying asleep. The bus got us to Hue, right in front of the hostel, conveniently. I had bought an open bus ticket, which allows me to get on and off the bus whenever I want and any of 4 stops. It was apparently much cheaper than a train ticket to each stop, but I didn't go to the station to verify that. It was convenient, cheap and went where I wanted to go. That was enough for me.

Most of today I have been sitting around the hostel, reading and using the internet. Not because I am really lazy and there is nothing to do around here (I'm not that lazy and there is plenty to see), but because its been pouring almost nonstop the entire day. In the morning I went off to see the citadel in the old part of town from when Hue was the capital. The citadel was essentially the Vietnamese version of the Forbidden City in Beijing, although not quite as large or old. In much worse shape too, although most of the damage had come as a result of a number of devastating wars in the last hundred years. When I left the hostel in the morning it was drizzling, but by the time I walked across the river and made it to the gate (about a 20 minute walk) it had started to pour again. The kind of rain that will soak you completely in a matter of seconds. I had a light raincoat that kept me mostly dry, at least for a while. Until I got to the main gate, there was hardly any shelter from the rain. I waited for a few minutes in the gate hoping that the rain would lighten up a bit, like the day before, when it rained for a 20-30 minutes and then stopped for a few hours before starting up again. I wasn't so lucky this time.

There were a pair of pools on either side of the path with water flowing into them from the large, open area around. I made a mental note of the water level to check against later when I left. When I realized that the rain probably wouldn't stop anytime soon (or at least until I made it across to the next building), I walked quickly to the next building. The building I was taking shelter under was apparently the throne room for the Nguyen Emperors. There was a sign outside, but I didn't want to get wet again just to read it. The interior was bare except for an intricate carved and gilded throne set on a multiple tiered platform, similarly carved and gilded. In the room behind it was a model of the citadel and forbidden city, before it had been bombed by the Americans. Most of the complex had been destroyed - only a few sections remained mostly undamaged. Again, at the rear doors, I waited for the rain to let up a bit. When it did, although not much, I walked quickly as I could to the next spot, a pair of U-shaped halls facing each other. I couldn't walk too fast since the water was pooling on all of the paved courtyards and the tiles were very slippery in some places. It wasn't too far, so I didn't get too wet. Attached to the hall I went to was a building (the opposite one was the same) with a few displays of pottery. Just past the pair of halls was another set, these ones L shaped. I went to the one opposite the side I was on. These halls didn't have any connected buildings. At the end there was a dirt path (flooded and muddy) that led to the next set of corridors. At the end of these halls was a couple nice looking pagodas, but I didn't go out to them since it didn't seem to lead anywhere. Off to the side through an arch was another long corridor. I went to the end of this where I found another opening which led to a street. Across the street were a series of gates, some of which were damaged. I went across through the gates to see if there was anything there.

Through the gates was another small palace, this one for the Queen Mother. It was hard to judge how it compared to the other palaces in the city, since it seemed most had been destroyed, but it seemed very nice. Once interesting feature I noticed was on the roof. Along with the usual dragons along the top, was another dragon, this one apparently at the ends of the gutter that ran where the roofs of the different parts of the building connected. Through the open mouth the water came pouring out into a channel that poured over the edge. Out of the main entrance (it seemed I came in through the side) was another street, but because the water here was much deeper I went back the way I came and went around instead. I went along the road that led to the gate I just avoided and found a way around the shoe deep water. At the next road, I saw a large gate, so I went in that direction. Unfortunately the gate was closed, but peeking through the door, it didn't seem like there was much on that side. I think it might have led out of the citadel. I saw a couple of tourists who went through a smaller gate in the road behind me. There was a sign outside it which identified the area as one of the temples, this one dedicated to the various Emperors who had ruled here. I walked through most of it - there were some smaller buildings and a large hall with shrines to various people, who I assumed were very important people or emperors. By now I was very wet and my shoes were pretty much soaked through, so I didn't even bother to try to find a way around the large puddle which was the entire courtyard. I just waded through the water to the pavilion, and then across another puddle to the gate. I was back near the entrance, so I went back there. I don't think there was much more to see anyways. I went up the gatehouse and enjoyed the view for a while, again hoping for the rain to let up. It did a little so I made my way back to the hostel. On the way down the stairs, I noticed the pools were deeper than before.

On the way back I got some lunch at a little restaurant right outside the city walls. I had a bowl of the Bun bo hue, one of the local dishes. Basically it was a noodle soup with some pieces of beef in it. It was good, but not something I would eat everyday. From there I walked a little bit around on the way back, since it wasn't raining too hard and I was already soaked anyways. I didn't see much of interest, so I didn't go too far around. A short while later I was back at the hostel. One end of the road was flooded but I could get to the hostel from the other side. It is still raining as I'm typing this, although not as much as before. Hopefully it will stop by the time I leave tomorrow (hopefully) and get to Hoi An.

Yesterday I arrived in Hue, but there isn't much to say. I didn't do too much. I got a haircut at a place nearby and walked a little in the neighborhood around the hostel. There were a few downpours that lasted less than half an hour a throughout the day, but besides that the weather was nice. If I had known what was in store today, I would have taken advantage of the nice weather.

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