Hanoi to Hoi An in Typhoon Season

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We have arrived in Vietnam and we are now officially millionaires! Not that you can get dinner for less than 20,000 Dong (just over $1) in most restaurants but that's besides the point. Happily we survived the 22 hour airport plane ordeal that brought us from Tawau in Borneo to Hanoi.

We arrived to find a lush green paddy field landscape, tall French/Asian style buildings (painted on the front only- perhaps because they don't want to waste the paint if someone is going to build on either side of them??) and stately Chinese gravestones scattered across the landscape. We drove into Hanoi surrounded by hundreds of motorbikes (a scene we will have to get used to over the next three weeks as they are everywhere).

Vietnam is lovely and I feel as though we are back in proper Asia now. We walk the streets amongst the locals carrying their wares on their shoulders, a bamboo stick with a basket on each end filled with fruit & vegetables or a full portable food stall. Motorbikes zoom by and crossing the street has become a death defying feat. After a few scary starts we discovered that you wait for a break in traffic (a break so small that back home you would never dare venture across) and step slowly but determinedly across the road until you reach the middle and then the other side. Cross walks lose their meaning and the little green man beckoning you to the other side is not to be trusted.

We stayed in the Old Quarter where the streets are small and charming. Ventured out to Ho Chi Minh's Masoleum to see the great man himself.. sadly the 2 month reembalming process was started early and we could only take pictures of the outside. Still the area is impressive and covered in guards telling you which sidewalk you can walk on. I quickly became afraid of crossing the white line in front of the masoleum in case the whistle blowing guards came running for me! We checked out the Museum about Uncle Ho, the Presidential Palace and the stilt house of Ho Chi Minh before heading to the Temple of Literature, the first university in Vietnam.

I also took a trip through Tam Coc caves which I, stupidly, decided to bike 12 kms to from our first stop at the temples of the kings. Riding a bike in very high heat and humidity during the middle of the day is never a good idea. I arrived at the restaurant saturated, dehydrated and nearly faint. Luckily the local delicacy of goat meat and fried rice perked me up just in time for my boat trip through the caves. Armed with my conical hat (boy am i a tourist!) our rower took us the 6 kms down the river through the caves. Struck up a lovely conversation wtih her 24 year old daughter on the way who was more happy to use her english and bask in the shade of her umbrella rather than row.

Women in Vietnam desire white skin while we Westerners strive for a tan. Many of the women rowing us to and fro had this same mind set and covered themselves from head to toe including full arm gloves to keep the sun away. Unbelievable with the hard work and blazing sun overhead.

Back in Hanoi we met up with Mark and Kim, our first travelling friends, who we met on the plane from the UK to Nairobi. So nice to see some familiar faces.

We had booked an overnight trip to Halong Bay however the weather was against us. After a typhoon came through our tour was cancelled twice and on our last day in town I finally caught a day trip out to see the UNESCO World Heritage site. We arrived to find another typhoon was coming and that the only highlight of our 7 hour roundtrip journey would be the slowest drive imaginable along the waterfront and the bridge spanning the bay. The clouds rolled in and the typhoon arrived. So dissapointed we couldn't go out for a cruise on Halong Bay as it is supposed to be a fantastic spot. Enjoyed a walk around the 36 streets of the Old Quarter before we left Hanoi to head south to Hue.

Hue was the capital of Vietnam during the Nguyen Dynasty from the 17th to 19th centuries. With only a couple of days I headed straight out to see the citadel which contains the old Hoa palace. By the time I got to the walls of the citadel I had been convinced to take a cyclo ride through the old city. As it was very hot out and very cheap I couldn't resist. I was peddled through the city and to the palace. Lovely old buildings.

The next day we headed out to see the other attractions in Hue the tombs of the former emperors and the Thien Mu Pagoda. We headed up the river by dragon boat (which kept flooding!) and stopped at the Thien Mu Pagoda. A seven tiered pagoda that sat beautifully overlooking the river. Next we headed for the Tu Duc tomb. Stopping on the riverbank we climbed up the steep sides and boarded our motorbike taxis that took us to the tomb a couple of kilometres away. We arrived to a walled in complex as big as some small towns in the area.

The emperor, seen as a lazy man by the Vietnamese people, built himself this complex as his home. He did not wish to live in the Citadel in Hue but instead to be left alone in the country to spend his time immersed in arts surrounded by his man made lake and island where he installed a band of monkeys (perhaps for amusement?!?). The emperor had 104 wives but no heirs. Upon his death he was buried somewhere within the grounds but not within the tomb itself. The 200 person procession were then promptly killed to keep secret the exact burial spot of the king. A funeral you would be happy to miss!

Back on the motorbike back to our boat and we continued up river, at the slowest imaginable pace- at one point i thought even the river was moving faster than us, to the tomb of Khai Dinh. After reaching the riverbank we even got Ev on a motorbike taxi to the tomb (which turned out to be more like an elaborate home) sat on the top of a hill. We climbed the 127 steps to the top for a look around the place. The rooms were covered in ceramics and the ceiling painted in a crazy design- so obviously the guy was mad! After a long hot day we opted for a taxi back to town as we just couldn't endure any more time on the slowest boat in the world.

Took the bus south from Hue along the coast to Hoi An. This port city was the largest in Southeast Asia in the 1st century and its old town is well preserved. We arrived in the heat of the second typhoon and spent most of our first day indoors to avoid the rivers flowing through the streets. As the rains abated I set out the next day for My Son, the local Hindu temple ruins. Older than Angkor Wat, but less impressive, we wandered around the many temples and the American bomb holes. Headed back to town to explore the streets of the old city including the Japanese bridge, Tan Ky House and the Madarin Assembly building. Such a beautiful old town.

We have decided to skip Nha Trang which was next on our agenda due to the next typhoon which is headed this way and instead are making our way to Ho Chi Minh City aka Saigon.

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Photos

The Hammer and Sickle
alive and well.

Uncle Ho's
Stilt House

Rush Hour in Hanoi
note the crazies crossing the street on foot!

Hand Sown Art
needless to say I bought one!

Demonstration of the traditional conical hat!
TOURIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Comments

[Margaret]

Great Photos and information on your experience
I am leaving 6/10 for Hanoi--6days, then joining a tour that goes down the coast for the most part ending in Ho Chi Minh City. Your blog is encouraging as I am somewhat anxious about the trip. Thanks.