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Published: November 6th 2006
(If you think the title pun is bad - wait until you see the one we have for Laos - its a doozer!)
'It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop' - Confucius c.500BC
'I'm not confused' - Alan Partridge after being ironically likened to Confucius - 1993
From Hue we took an overnight coach to Nimh Binh (very different from the Australian town of the same name: Nat). This place is far less visited by farang than most places we have been and was far quieter as a result. We could only find one guest house, which conveniently housed the only restaurant we could find! We hired a moped for 2 days and visited Tam Coc and Cuc Phuong National Park.
Tam Coc was absolutely stunning; here you floated down a river in small boats rowed by locals (either the feet or hands depending on how they felt!), rowed through deep caves and watched the huge limestone rocks rise out of the lily-covered water (See pic). There was also two very nice temples, one set high up in the rocks with great views of the surrounding areas (See pic).
The journey here was eventful with some unexpected obstacles (See pic).
Cuc Phuong National Park was home to an endangered primate rescue centre where we saw some really cool monkeys including the Cat Ba Langur of which there are only 45 left in the world and G was reunited with the gibbons he studied for his dissertation.
We went for a 3 hour hike around the National Park to visit a 1000 year old tree (see pic), but not before we had a minor moped accident (just a few cuts and bruises), the second injury caused by the same bike as Nat got a nasty burn from the exhaust the day before. Apparently this injury is common and is known as the Thailand tattoo!
After the short bus ride up to Hanoi we found a great restaurant and a funky bar for a few drinks, after which G decided to commandeer a cyclo (see pic).
A 3 hour bus trip took us into Halong Bay where we commenced our 3 day cruise. Ha Long means 'Where the dragon descends into the sea' and legend has it that the islands of Halong Bay were created by a
great dragon that lived in the mountains. As it ran towards the coast, its flailing tail gouged out the valleys and crevasses; as it plunged into the sea, the areas dug up by its tail became filled with water, leaving only bits of high-land visable. That’s obviously a load of rubbish, however the Halong Bay sailing trip is often quoted as many peoples highlight of Vietnam, and it did not disappoint!
From the top deck of our junk you could dive 20ft into the South China Sea, amongst the imposing rocks and islands (see pics). We kayaked to the near by 'Monkey Island' - which turned out to be a wind up. Our tour was supposed to include a trip to Monkey Island and when G pressed on the point when we seemed to be running out of time, our tour guide pointed to a far off island which we spent 45 minutes rowing to. We saw no monkeys. When we got ashore and spoke to others on a different cruise we found out why. The Island we visited was not Monkey Island and the guide just duped us to avoid the need to go there!
The first
night of the cruise was spent on Cat Ba Island where we visited the National Park which included a climb to the summit of a 300m mountain. Here, Natalie was treated to two fantastic sights; miles and miles of un-spoilt parkland (see pic) and G hugging a rock, scared out of his mind!
The second night on the boat where we drunkenly dragged our mattress up to the top deck and slept under the stars. In the morning, G woke up by diving off of the boat, without realising there was no ladder to get back up with and therefore had to float around for 20 minutes while Nat located one!
Back in Hanoi we were pleasantly surprised to find that, completely coincidently, Ricko and Michelle were staying at our guest house. They only stayed for one night as they had been duped by the owner - alarm bells should have rang but we had negotiated such a good price for all trips and accommodation that we felt sufficiently assured.
US Air Force General Curtis Le May once infamously stated that the US arial strategy in the Vietnamese war would be to 'bomb them back to the
stone age'. Whilst this kind of sentiment can never be condoned, I suspect these words were spoken just after a visit to Hanoi where he had been ripped off for the 15th time!
We all went out for dinner and a couple of 'fresh' beers which are served in alfresco road-side bars where a cold one will brilliantly only set you back the equivalent of 8p (See pic)! We had to squeeze all of this in before 9pm as we had to take the overnight train to Sapa. When we asked our hotel owner, who for some reason kept telling us his name was Jon Dahl Thommason - the same as the ex-Newcastle striker, why his train ticket was a few dollars more than elsewhere in Hanoi, he assured us that we would be gently stroked by the furry hand of luxury and had the pictures to prove it. Suffice to say the sleeper carriage was nothing like the pictures and Nat had to sleep with her nose 3 inches from the ceiling!
Sapa is a highly colourful french-colonial hill station just on the Chinese border that provides a non-stop collection of postcard-style photo opportunities, be they of
the highly elaborate local tribal costumes (see pic) or numerous vistas of rolling valleys and dominating mountains, including Fansipan, which at 3143m in Vietnam's highest. The climate was particularly forgiving, especially after Hanoi, and the morning mists, often forming in the valley below Sapa, gave the place a mystical feel.
We visited the bustling Saturday markets where many different local tribes-people, each with a distinctively different costume, converge to buy their weekly groceries. G had his hair cut in the market (see pic). We walked to a local tribal town and a fairly impressive waterfall. We visited the night markets and relieved the locals of a small amount of the silver jewelry for which they're renowned.
Once again back in Hanoi, we met up with Ricko and Michelle for a few beverages which turned into a night of pool, gambling (over games of pool which we won most of but still managed to have all the drinks appear on our bill), copious amounts of Hanoi beer and a small disagreement with the bar manager.
The next day after Nat literally dragged G out of bed (at lunchtime mind you) we went for a brief visit to the
mausoleum (see pic) where Ho Chi Minh's body is kept (well, it was actually in Russia at the time for its yearly maintenance). 'Uncle Ho's' last request was for his ashes to be scattered in 3 different parts of Vietnam. Areas in the North, South and Central Highlands were chosen in a symbolic gesture representing the reunification of Vietnam, for which Uncle Ho devoted his life. The Vietnam Government decided to thank Uncle Ho for all of his endeavors by completely ignoring his request and building a huge Mausoleum, very reminiscent of soviet architecture, in which his mummified body lies.
Nat then took a very worse-for-wear G back to bed before so that he'd be in better shape for the water puppetry. Water puppetry (Roi Nuoc - see pic) is a unique Vietnamese tradition created by rice farmers to keep spirits up in the wet season. The show was excellent although a little hard to follow as it was all in Vietnamese. There were 11 scenes, each depicting a different part of Vietnamese life, ending in a small aquatic firework display (we still do not understand how this was possible).
After a lovely lunch in KOTO (Know One,
Teach One - set up to help under privileged children) we visited the Temple of Literature. Originally set up in 1070 by Emperor Ly Thanh Tong in dedication to Confucius, whose family and socially orientated works still form much of the Vietnamese national psyche. These beautiful buildings and grounds (see pic) eventually became a university for the education of Mandarins, who during their final exam had to answer questions fielded by the king himself.
One more quiet dinner with Ricko & Michelle (quiet as Ricko was suffering as much as G) in a 5th story restaurant with great views over the lake (see pic) before the guys departed for China. In the middle of the lake is the Ngoc Son (Jade Mountain) temple. Steeped in legend, this temple was the site where one of the giant turtles (one of four revered animals in Vietnam along with dragon, unicorn, phoenix and that still live in the lake (see pic of preserved specimen) supposedly rose and handed Emporer Le Loi a sword with which he defeated the Chinese.
Leaving Hanoi provided us with one final grievance. Jon Dahl Thommason also had pictures of a large, spacious, luxurious air conditioned bus
that would gently float us into Laos, creeping along so as not to wake us. This seems odd considering what picked us up! We undertook a 23 hour bus journey on which we were treated a far of second best to the 100's of boxes of whatever was being smuggled. There was no leg room, no air conditioning and no chance of sleep (unless like G you have sleeping pills strong enough to sedate King Kong). The bus company employees were exceptionally rude and they put our baggage on the roof, with no protection from the elements, to make way for more onions!
We will not let our experiences in Hanoi spoil our memories of Vietnam which is a stunning country. Indeed it is very easy to understand why deception is widespread (we have detailed only a few instances of our experiences of being hassled and conned). Vietnamese people are only just waking up to the possibilities of an open market and while not as obvious as in Cambodia, poverty is still rife. As Vietnam enters into a new age of commercial enterprise, the Government is not setting the best example. Just recently the Minister for the Prevention of
Narcotics was sacked for smuggling Heroin, the Minister for Health was relieved of his role after being caught selling free condoms to Russia and the Minister for Corruption Prevention was found guilty of taking a bung!
Thanks for all those who have sent messages, please keep them coming. More pictures can be seen
here. Until next time - stay crazy kids.
G & Nat
x
PS - G ate dog - see pic!
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Nunny
Michelle Nunn & Andrew Richards
You're catching up...!
Nice blog guys! And youre getting closer to the ever elusive current affairs... We're now back in Kunming and about to fly up to Xian and Beijing before reunification with the folks in Krabi. Hope you're still travelling well and enjoying the honeymoon - we'll see ya both back in Sydney / Newcastle round the New Year...