Advertisement
Published: December 22nd 2007
So, our dinner was with a Vietnamese girl called Diep who lives in Hanoi and her Singaporean friend Michele. I made contact with Diep through the Couchsurfing website which is designed to put people in touch with local people in places they are visiting, the original aim being to link people up to accommodation in people's houses. Diep works for the EU and Michele for the UN, both in Hanoi and work with a range of international colleagues. Dinner was on the third floor of a small restaurant where you sit on cushions around low tables - always a bit of a struggle for Hugh but the food was great. We also tried a couple of their extensive range of liquors, my mulberry one being rather lovely, Hugh's Apricot was a little like Benylin!
The girls were great company and we chatted about their countries and ours, going on for desert in a small cafe nearby. It was a lovely way to learn a little more about the country.
The following morning we were picked up by mini bus for our trip to Halong Bay, about 170km from Hanoi on the coast. The mini bus took a little longer
than expected and the port area of Halong City is crowded with tourists waiting to get onto one of the many traditional 'junks'. We eventually were put onto a small boat to take us to the cruise boat but had to wait some time for the captain to appear so that the boat could leave the port.
As Jen will know, Halong Bay is a spectacular area of karst limestone peaks climbing straight out of the water. Sadly, being winter, it was very grey and hazy and it was some time before we could just make out the rocky islands around us. A huge lunch was served once we set off while the boat travelled through some beautiful scenery to take us to an afternoon walk through a series of large caves with amazing stalagtites, stalagmites and other rock formations.
Back on the boat it was getting quite chilly and it was clear that we were not going to get a sunset, or any stargazing that night! Dinner was served rather early - another procession of courses - but it was over by around 7.30pm and people seemed to all disappear to their cabins so we were asleep
by 8.30pm!
The following morning after an early breakfast we negotiated getting into two-man kayaks from the boat with success and set off across the bay. Hugh & I seemed to have a right turning kayak, or more likely it's just the way we paddle, but gradually we began to get some control. Even though it was misty, it was lovely to be at water level and paddle around the huge peaks. The guide took us through a couple of caves which were rather spectacular and into a bay where we caught sight of a couple of monkeys up in the trees which we think were macaques.
After a quick change out of wet clothes back at the boat, Hugh and I were hurried onto a smaller boat while the remainder of the guests were taken back to port. We were taken to Cat Ba National Park on Cat Ba Island to go for a trek. There were 2 other girls with us who had not been told what the trek entailed so had completely unsuitable footwear (no, Jonathan, not Manolo's!) and I felt sorry for them as we scrambled over limestone rocks up and down for an
hour or two. The trek took us to a small fish farm run by an old man and his wife who live in the middle of nowhere in a shack with a few chickens - don't know what they do when they run out of milk! Apart from that, it seemed that it was just a trek for trekking's sake as they had to find something to do with us while they took the big boat back to port. Lunch was supposed to be on the beach but when we arrived, the beach was more the size of a sand pit and it was cool and cloudy so we decided to stay on the boat. Still, the boat sailed through some beautiful and very quiet areas with nobody else around so it was worth it just for that.
Back on board there was a whole new group of people and a completely different evening lay ahead. A new guide, "Duke" had joined the boat and was determined that everyone should have a party, particularly as there was one couple on their honeymoon and it was somebody else's birthday. They produced a couple of bottles of pink fizz, two cakes
and lots of fruit (despite the 10 course meal we'd just eaten) and Duke did everything he could to start the karaoke. To his dismay we were rather reluctant stars and only the odd one could be briefly persuaded to sing so we ended up listening to him and the other guide and then he told us his life story!
The cabins, though small, were quite comfortable and I was glad to fall into bed. I was a little less happy when I woke in the middle of the night to discover I'd been bitten all over my back. The only conclusion we could reach was bed bugs as I had been covered up all day so I ended up sleeping the rest of the night on top of the duvet fully clothed.
Another morning in the kayaks (this time rather stiff from the day before so a little slow). Hugh and I were taken in a different direction to see another cave and then to visit a floating school in the local fishing village. This was set up by a French charity about 7 years ago - until then there was no school for the local children
so they just did not go. We saw 3 very small, basic classrooms with just a blackboard and a few desks and chairs which cater for over 60 6 -11 year olds. After that, they have to go and stay in the nearest city in the mainland if they want to go to school.
More food when we got back on the boat and then the trip back to port which was made more pleasant by the sun finally coming out. The trip back to Hanoi was a bit of a farce as the tour company had not sent a big enough bus for the people so they dumped two onto somebody else's minibus. However, this went a bit pearshaped for them and after we'd been going about an hour we were forced to turn back and go and collect them where their bus had stopped for an hour without them being told. This involved a detour of over an hour for us so there was a bus full of very disgruntled people.
So, back to Hanoi and a new hotel - no window in the room which I don't like but quite nice otherwise and even has
a PC in the room. However, not content with dashing about for 3 days, we were up early again this morning to go to Cuc Phuong National Park about 120km South West of Hanoi. While a long drive, this turned out to be a fantastic trip. At the gates of the park is the Endangered Primate Rescue Centre which takes in monkeys that have been saved from hunters, looks after them and eventually releases them into 2 semi-wild areas that they have. The aim is to finally release them back into the wild when there is better control of hunting in the country (which I think could be a while). There are a total of 24 different species and sub-species of monkey in Vietnam, mainly gibbons, langurs and macaques. We saw a number of these in their cages, including some young that have bred in captivity, and they were just wonderful. Some of them I have never seen anything like before with bright orange faces and white bottoms. Male gibbons are all black but females are a dirty orange. Both of them zip round their cage tumbling and twisting and they can start up a spectacular howl. The guide we
had clearly knew a lot about the animals and they seemed well looked after (& clearly are if they are producing young).
Following lunch in the park restaurant we were taken further into the park for a trek through some primary forest. Phuong, the guide, turned out to be a fascinating man who knew lots about the plants, birds and animals in the park. It was another grey, damp day and being under the trees made it quite dark but it was beautifully peaceful as there was almost nobody else there. It turned out that Phuong was from one of the ethnic minority villages that had been moved out of the park though he had actually been born in the park. He was 14 when the village was moved and that was the first time that he had gone to school. He spoke Moung (which has no written form) and Vietnamese. He is now in his mid-30s and also spoke some of the best English we have found amongst guides here which he says he taught himself. He also got far enough through school to be able to go to University to study Biology when the National Park offered
to sponsor him and is still studying primates now. I can't imagine how hard it must be to start school at 14 but to achieve all that he has is amazing.
Of course he could also tell us a lot about the village and how they used to live. It seems that most are happy to have been moved closer to the city as life is generally easier for them now and they have better access to services etc. However, there is still one village left in the park which now makes money out of having tourists visit them to stay and this means that they no longer get involved in hunting the animals in the park.
The park itself is huge and has a large range of birds and animals. Unfortunately most of the more spectacular ones - leopards, bears, monkeys - are in very small numbers and almost impossible to see. However there are also some fantastically huge trees - one reckoned to be in the region of 1,000 years old and another nearly 70m high. We also heard lots of noisy birds, including a woodpecker that sounded like a monster hammer and saw a variety
of insect life, including a beautiful preying mantis.
It was quite sad to leave such a peaceful place and get back in the car for the chaotic road journey back to Hanoi but we made it in one piece and are now exhausted but getting ready for our next adventure......
One other little story was going to go here but I don't want to upset people so I've put the paragraph at the end. Janet, and other dog lovers, please don't read the paragraph after we sign off.
I am unlikely to update the blog again before Christmas so all that's left today is to say that I hope you all have a wonderful and peaceful time. Spare a thought for some of the people I have described over the last few months in the blog who will not even be able to imagine the level of consumption involved in a typical western Christmas and, maybe because of that, make sure you really appreciate all you have. We will be having a cold Christmas too but more of that next time.
Christmas kisses to all....
S + H xx
NOT FOR DOG LOVERS:
We were aware that dog is eaten in Vietnam and there are a number of streets of restaurants serving it. It's not the kind of thing you really want to think about but today we noticed many signs advertising it and then saw a man by a fire by the side of the road with a dead dog from which he was burning the fur. Later we saw a man on a motorbike carrying a small cage with at least 8 live dogs in it - not the way you treat the family pet. This made us both feel rather uncomfortable as it had not been so blatant anywhere else that we really had to think about it. But, to be controversial, when you do think about it, what's the difference from cows or pigs........?
Advertisement
Tot: 0.058s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 7; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0357s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Andy Payne
non-member comment
Dogs, Cows or Sheep???
What is the diffrence? the fact that we have them as pets (i know a few folk have cattle as pets but thats another debate)? The dogs of Hanoi and all the other meat and fish products in Vietnam yes are possibly abused, the question is that are animals in the UK and worldwide, lets think battery hens?? cattle in packed into big trucks? Veal farmers and many more? Also Vietnam is a poor country and is meat not meat whatever animal? to add to the debate ugly tuna cute dolphin, any diffrence? they are all living creatures! Nut roast for xmas then, makes you think???? Andy P