Vietnam - Hanoi & Halong Bay

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Vietnam: Hanoi & Halong Bay

~ * ~ DAY 1 ~ * ~

Landing in Hanoi, we hopped on the $2 shuttle van, supposedly heading to the Vietnam Airlines headquarters near the Old Quarter. The highway from the airport to the city cut through miles of fields and was lined with gigantic billboards, all promoting high end and high tech products, from luxury cars to digital cameras. Upon reaching the congested Old Quarter, the driver picked up a local who graciously offered to take us directly to our hotels. We proceeded on a complicated, twisting route through all 36 streets of the Old Quarter, dropping pairs of travelers off. Finally, it was our turn, but the van took a quick turn past the lake. Way past the French Quarter, the van stopped and a man opened the door, greeting us, "Welcome to the Especen Hotel." A quick look at the unnamed building confirmed our suspicions that this was not our hotel. We demanded the van take us to our real hotel, and ended up at the Vietnam Airlines office. We walked a short distance past St. Joseph's Cathedral to our hotel, which was down a quiet side lane, whose walls were stamped with names and telephone numbers, a different take on graffiti or plastered ads.

The Old Quarter

After meeting up at the Especen, we sought out #1 on our list of foods to try: bun cha, charcoal grilled pork patties with vermicelli noodles and herbs. The recommended restaurant, Bun Cha Nem Cua Be Dac Kim (67 Duong Thanh), was a tall skinny building like its neighbors. When the food arrived, we were shocked to see such large portions. Besides bun cha, we also tried nem cua be, crab meat-stuffed egg rolls.

We then started our walking tour of the Old Quarter, stopping quickly at the first travel agent we saw to book our trip to Halong Bay, settling on a 2 day/1 night "deluxe" boat. The Old Quarter was unique with narrow streets and skinny 3-4 storey houses which had a first floor shopfront and upstairs living areas. Traditionally, there had been "36 streets," each specializing in a particular craft or trade. Many of the houses have been converted in to hostels, cafes, and travel agencies (we passed several "Kangaroo Cafes" and over 15 "Sinh Cafes" - two of the most recommended travel companies who attracted many imitations). Every so often, there was a hidden Buddhist temple squeezed between shops. Women with the iconic woven hats carried baskets of fruit through the congested streets, while men sat idly on motorcycles, waiting.

One of the first streets we came across was Hang Thiec St, lined with tin boxs and mirrors. Hang Vai St had an interesting section of baskets and bamboo poles. Hang Vai, like many of the streets, changed names within a block or two. A few meters down from the bamboo poles, Lan Ong St was full of bottles and bags of herbs. We also passed Ho Chi Minh's residence on Hang Ngang St, but it was closed and completely empty downstairs. We stopped for a brief coffee break at Trung Nguyen Cafe, although I had a salted lemon drink...which was quite sour. On our way to Dong Xuan market on the northern end, we passed kites, straw mats, and shoes. The market was chaotic, packed with wholesalers and their stuffed toys, kitchen clothes, and plastic containers. Escaping the market, we stumbled through a fresh food market, where vegetables and fruit were laid out on the ground and raw red meat chunks sat on cardboard waiting to be bought. On the eastern end of the Old Quarter, we saw Quan Chuong Gate, the only surviving example of the citadel built in 1749, and Bach Ma Temple (which was also closed). We had a closer look inside one of Hanoi's skinny tube-houses at 87 Ma May St, enjoying the mini-courtyards of the restored Chinese-style house and a cup of strong Vietnamese tea.

We headed south along the lake and past several busy streets, being careful not to get run over by one of Hanoi's 3 million motorbikes. We finally came to Quan An Ngon, a restaurant near to the "Hanoi Hilton" serving street food - delicious and cheap! Especially loved the iced dessert with various jellies and coconut milk.

~ * ~ DAY 2 ~ * ~

We woke early (I, even earlier, because I forgot about the one-hour time difference - oops!) to catch our van to Halong Bay. The bumpy ride passed through many small towns and fields, with a midway rest stop at a massive souvenir shop.

Halong Bay

At the port, our guide bought our entrance tickets to the UNESCO World Heritage Site and we boarded our wooden boat. We ate a delicious lunch as we gazed out the window upon various karst formations, resembling fighting chickens and turtles. The slight drizzle was accompanied by low gray clouds, but we could still feel the heat. The waters were very calm, and we passed other tourist boats as well as several small fishing boats and a few larger boats carrying coal and metal parts across the bay.

Sung Sot Cave

We sailed into a cove and got off the boat to see Sung Sot (aka "Surprise") Cave. The cave was one of the largest I've seen, with an interesting smooth pattern on the ceiling that looked like a watermelon which had been scooped out with a ball scoop. Our guide pointed out numerous formations, most of which were either a frog, a turtle, or a dog/lion's head. There was also a squid formation that we all had to pass under.

Immediately after the cave, the boat dropped us off at a small floating fish farm and we hopped into kayaks to explore the karst formations up close. The sun was beating down and our arms soon felt the weight of the oars. Our guide calmly paddled ahead and, struggling to keep up, we followed him around several small islands. We could see fish beneath us and many crabs and insects on the rocky edges.

Our next stop was a small beach, with imported sand, we guessed. Local Vietnamese school children were playing tug of war and there was intense screaming and laughter. The water was cool, but a bit polluted from all the boats nearby. As we were leaving, we caught a glimpse of the sunset. The fiery red ball descended between two karst formations was a gorgeous end to the day.

~ * ~ DAY 3 ~ * ~

Halong Bay

Our alarm rang at 5:30am, but after peeking through the curtains and seeing a cloudy grey sky, we gave up on catching the sunrise. We woke up again for breakfast at 8, and enjoyed a leisurely cruise back to the pier area. It was nice lounging on the top deck, taking in the scenery and spending some time to write out postcards.

Upon return to the congested pier, our APT travel bus took us to a restaurant on a tourist island, overlooking the bay, before the 3 hour ride back to Hanoi. We looked forward to the midway rest stop for ice cream. After a rip-off taxi ride, we checked into the Hanoi Hotel, overlooking Giang Vo lake and the city.

We opted for an early dinner at Chim Sao, a cool artsy restaurant on a tiny lane in the southern area of Hanoi. We sat on pillows around short wooden tables, and modern art hung on the walls. With time to spare after dinner, we made our way up north back to the Hoan Kiem lake. Sadly, we couldn't find a recommended dessert place along the way.

Water Puppet Show

We caught the 8pm water puppet show at the Thang Long Water Puppet Theater. We decided to go for the $3 first class seats (second class was $2), and enjoyed the 17 different scenes with traditional music accompaniment. My favorites were the dragons that spit out water and sparks of fire, as well as the pair of phoenixes who hatched a baby phoenix within the 3-minute segment. There was also a representation of the legend of the Returned Sword, associated with the Hoan Kiem lake.

Walking back along the Hoan Kiem lake, we stopped at Fanny's for ice cream. They had a variety of ice cream desserts that rivaled Häagen-Dazs - but for much less!

~ * ~ DAY 4 ~ * ~

Temple of Literature

With most of the main sights and museums in Hanoi closed on Mondays, our first stop was Van Mieu, the Temple of Literature. We enjoyed breakfast pastries from our hotel bakery in this Chinese-style courtyard and temple built to worship Confucius. Girls in white ao dais were busy taking glamor shots around the gardens, while groups of students weaved through the 82 stone tablets that sat upon tortoises around the Well of Heavenly Clarity, rubbing the heads of each tortoise for good luck.

Across the street from the Temple of Literature was Craft Link, a non-profit fair trade store which sold Vietnamese handicrafts and souvenirs, for reasonable prices. Thus began our shopping.

Back to the Old Quarter

After a quick lunch in the "delicious area" marked on our map, we walked back to the Old Quarter to re-explore the maze of streets. Even though we had spent several hours there before, there was always something new we noticed, keeping things interesting. We focused on the Church District area, which had a concentration of high end boutiques and cafes. We enjoyed Vietnamese coffee and air conditioning in a French cafe. We also made it to the Den Ngoc Son Temple, on a small island connected by a red lacquered bridge. It was much less crowded than the first day when we had passed the bridge, and there were groups of old men playing chess under the shade of the pavilion and trees on the island. We sought out and failed to find three recommended food places - so after browsing several art galleries and souvenir shops, we headed back to Quan An Ngon. (Speaking of art galleries - it was interesting to see these small shops with stacks of paintings and local painters making copies of famous artwork from small postcard-size images... I could appreciate the local scenescapes, but it was funny to think of these locals painting extravagant French streets with the Eiffel Tower in the background.)

Ba Dinh Square

We hopped in a taxi to Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum, which sat in the middle of Ba Dinh Square, similar to other large public squares like Tiananmen; however, a big difference was the grass that covered most of the square, instead of just open concrete. Children ran about while parents relaxed (the Vietnamese seem to wake up early AND stay up late - must be all the coffee!) I really appreciated how the square was available to the public for casual recreation - it seems like a great place to hang out. The mausoleum was brightly lit up, and a large Vietnamese flag flapped in the cool night air.

~ * ~ DAY 5 ~ * ~

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum

Off to an early start, we took a short cut alley to visit Uncle Ho. Along the way, we passed baskets upon baskets of fruits, vegetables, grains, and meats. More disturbing than the few motorbikes that honked their way through the alleys, spewing exhaust over the food, was a woman shopping for poultry who picked up a dead duck to smell its butt. Lovely.

We quickly joined the fast-moving line to the mausoleum, dropping off our backpacks at one station and our cameras and cell phones at a second station. In the middle of a pack of school children, we shuffled through the imposing stone building for a 70-second look at Ho Chi Minh. The best part of the whole thing was the intense, cool air conditioning. Upon exiting, the silence was broken by the slapping of flip flops descending the stairs and immediately outside the north exit of the mausoleum, we picked up our cameras (which had amazingly been transported from the other side of the building!). Impressive crowd control herded us towards "The House where Ho Chi Minh Lived and Worked" (a simple wooden structure) and a quick look at the yellow Presidential Palace (formerly the Palace of French Indochina's Governor-General). We passed the One-Pillar Pagoda on our way to the Ho Chi Minh Museum, with eclectic exhibits of Ho's life and historic/cultural influences.

West Lake

We decided to check out the large West Lake, as well as the smaller Truc ach Lake, where McCain's plane was shot down in 1967, and where, today, dead fish littered the waters.

It was then back to the Old Quarter for last-minute shopping - custom-made shoes for US$4.50 a pair, lacquer boxes and plates, silk scarves... Near the lake, we saw an interesting scene with a man dressed in green "police clothes" on a motorcycle. He had stopped in front of one of the small shops selling suitcases and was grabbing bags and piling them on to his bike, while the shop ladies frantically tossed luggage back into their shops. When the "policeman" had reached his carrying limit, he sped off, leaving the shop ladies looking bewildered. It was quite the scene. In the last 20 minutes before heading back to the hotel to pick up our bags, we finally came across a store that was closing in two weeks, so was able to get good deals and use up the last million dong I had left (yes!!!). Also got a chance to have a quick bowl of pho bo...

And it was off to the airport, through the afternoon traffic.... goodbye, Vietnam! Until next time (note to self: must take advantage of more of the Cathay Pacific packages...!)

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Photos

Bun Cha & Nem Cua Be
*Charcoal Grilled Pork Patties with Vermicelli Noodles and Herbs
*Crab Meat-Stuffed Egg Rolls

Van Mieu - Temple of Literature
Students pray at the Temple of Literature

Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum at Night
With the grassy Ba Dinh Square

Truc Bach Lake
Where John McCain's plane was shot down

Dinner at Quan An Ngon
Vietnamese pancake

Giang Vo Lake
The view from our room at Hanoi Hotel