Across the border to wonderful Vietnam

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We finally arrived in Vietnam!...after an incredibly complicated passage across the border from China. But it was worth it. Our time in Vietnam, working our way down from Hanoi in the north to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) in the south, was fantastic. We love this country!

Hanoi is a beautiful, bustling capital city. It has a strong influence from its French colonial past, evident in its architecture and more importantly for Joanna, its cakes! The French quarter is lined with lovely cafes and patisseries, particularly around St. Michael's Cathedral. We stayed in the Old Quarter, which has a much more quitessentially Vietnamese feel to it. Its narrow lanes are brimming with little shops, market stalls and street kitchens. It is also absolutely full of the favourite Vietnamese form of transport, the moped! It took us a while to get the hang of crossing the road but we managed to work out how to weave our way through the traffic eventually. But not without one or two hairy moments!

There are lots of lakes, temples and other cultural sites to explore here. Among the most impressive was the Temple of Literature, Hanoi's first university and formed on Confucian principles. More recent history was evident in Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum, though we didn't have to resist viewing his embalmed visage as it was closed for its annual clean! We enjoyed the food and drink a lot, especially Cha Ca, a light fish cooked at your table, and the Vietnamese coffee, which is drunk incredibly strong with a large dollop of condensed milk.

On our final night in Hanoi we went to see a water puppet show, a traditional form of Vietnamese entertainment. It was incredibly well done and accompanied by equally impressive music. We came out of the theatre to our first taste of a South-East Asian storm...even the locals were surprised at how heavy the rain was! We got wet but managed to avoid the worst of it by diving into a bar for some local beers!

We moved on from Hanoi to the stunning Halong Bay, a World Heritage Site. We spent one of the most relaxing and pleasant afternoons of our trip so far drinking Vietnamese wine and eating a huge amount of seafood on a boat meandering its way through the bay, which is surrounded by many karst peaks and islands (see photo).

From Halong Bay we drove back to Hanoi before boarding the overnight Reunification Express to Hue, a former capital. The train journey was fine, although a bit cramped with four to the cabin, but we had a reasonable night's sleep. We were met in Hue by an excellent guide called Chinh, who grew up in South Vietnam. Chinh won us over straight away by taking us to a street kitchen for breakfast, where we had the best pho (noodle soup) of the trip so far! We then toured Hue, including a trip along the Perfume River to see the Citadel and the huge and incredibly lavish mausoleums of some of the former Emperors...those guys had mighty big egos!

Chinh gave us our first real insight into the experience and impact of the American war (as they call it here) from a Southern Vietnamese perspective. Chinh's father was in the South Vietnamese Army and was sent to the Re-Education camps with his parents after the war ended. The story that stuck in our minds most is of his running as a 9-year-old with his family to (unsuccessfully) try and board the American ships to leave the country, when the Americans pulled out of the war.

From Hue we drove to Hoi An, a very laid back riverside town popular with backpackers. We loved it. The main attraction in this region, apart from the local art galleries and tailors (where we had suits hand made!) is another World Heritage Site, My Son. My Son was an imperial city during the Cham Dynasty between the 4th and 12th centuries. The site is an amazing collection of religious relics, with fantastic architecture, although time (and foreign invaders) have taken their toll somewhat - the huge craters left by American bombs are powerful indicators of recent history. It was a fascinating place and peaceful enough to harbour some interesting wildlife, including many huge and beautiful butterflies.

We had a lovely couple of laid back days in Hoi An, then continued down the coast...

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Photos

Hue
A gate at The Citadel

Halong Bay
Touring the Bay - with lunch!

Hoi An
Us at the Japanese Bridge