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Published: October 28th 2006
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Danna the Sailor!
Beautiful Halong Bay in the background as I enjoy the view from the top deck of our junk boat. Rangsit University was kind enough to give the USAC students one week off of classes for fall break. The buzz about where everyone was going and what everyone was doing began just weeks after we started classes back in September. Unfortunately, as the week drew near, people seemed more to be dragging their feet about making their decisions. I’d rather early on set my hopes on Vietnam. Brian had seduced me with his talks of taking off the beaten path motorcycle tours of southern Vietnam. He let me borrow his Lonely Planet so I could contemplate and dream. When it was the week before break and those closest to me still hadn’t decided what they were going to do, I was faced with a tough decision. Would I let the likelihood of no one going with me stop me from doing something I wanted to do that was a once in a lifetime experience? For better or for worse, I decided no. I got my visa stamp in my passport, bought cheap round trip tickets online, and secured my plans for my trip to Vietnam, by myself.
My trip (which I was able to stretch out thanks to some
flexibility of my schedule) lasted twelve days. On the first day, I flew into Hanoi. On the plane, I met four American women traveling together, spending a few weeks in Thailand and Vietnam for vacation. They were extremely nice, and turned motherly once they found out I was traveling alone. They asked if I’d like to stay at the same hotel as them that night, and I agreed. It was past 9:00pm by the time we’d passed through customs and collected our luggage. We grabbed a taxi to the airport hotel they’d made reservations at, agreed to share a taxi into Hanoi’s Old Quarter in the morning, and rested up for the night. While in the taxi going to the Old Quarter I was teasing the girls and I told them they were acting like my Mormon friends. They looked at me kind of funny, and one of them said, “Did you know we’re Mormon?” This derived much amusement for the rest of our time together, with them being the “crazy Mormons” and me being the “crazy ex-Mormon.” Also on the taxi into town they invited me to join them for the day, since our lists of things we wanted
Hanoi Cyclo
A fun ride through the crazy traffic! to do and see in Hanoi were pretty much the same. I very happily accepted.
Our first stop was a hotel they picked out of the LP that was a bit out of my price range. They got a suite for the four of them to share, making it equitably feasible for them, but I merely dropped off my stuff in their room, intent on finding a cheaper hotel when we got back from our day’s excursion. We took cyclos to the Hoan Kiem Lake to start our tour. We had lunch at the Highland’s Café which was up on the third floor and had a wonderful view. One fabulous remainder of French Occupation is the prevalence of French food everywhere. I’ve definitely missed having good bread while in Thailand. I had pasta and enjoyed a hot chocolate. We walked along the lake, viewing the famous red bridge and Ngoc Son Temple, which it leads to. We bought tickets to the Water Puppet Theatre for later that evening, and returned to the hotel for a reliable taxi to our destinations further away. We went to the Temple of Literature, which contained a lot of large tablets being held up
by turtles, a symbol for knowledge. It was the first university of Vietnam. Next we went to Hoa Lo Prison. It was nicknamed the “Hanoi Hilton” by American POW’s during the war. This caused some confusion with our taxi driver, who took us to Hanoi’s actual Hilton Hotel. We drove by the Hanoi Opera House for a photo op, and then headed back to Hoan Kiem Lake.
Our show at the Water Puppet Theatre next to the lake was amazing. Historically, water puppetry originated in Northern Vietnam in flooded rice fields over 1,000 years ago. Hanoi is the best place to see it, and it’s a truly spectacular way to see something completely authentic and traditional for Vietnam. The show was fun, complete with fireworks, live music, and puppets that can do a lot more than Punch and Judy. Afterwards, we walked along the streets around the lake, slowly making our way back towards the hotel. The girls (Monica, Blythe, Melissa, and Tiffanie) were quite the shoppers and there were certainly plenty of tourist shops for them to peruse. We had dinner at a nice French-Vietnamese restaurant on a third floor balcony with quite a nice view. It was
Danna as a Vietnamese Worker
Yeah, I could do this all day! (Careful, these kinds of photo ops are expensive...) nice to feel above the crazy traffic and shops below. Back at their suite I collected my backpack and set off to a $10 a night hotel around the corner. It was very high up on a pretty narrow staircase, but was otherwise completely acceptable for $10.
In the morning I got up early and showered, setting off to the girls’ hotel again. We’d both been interested in Halong Bay and their clerk got us set up on a promising 2 day, 1 night tour that I joined in on. They snuck me a piece of toast for breakfast and we caught our van to the bus that took us off on the 3 hour drive. The scenery was amazing as we passed through rural areas and watched people working in rice fields. Our tour guide told us quite a bit about Vietnam life and she was extremely nice.
Once there, we got on our junk boat and investigated our rooms. Being the odd one out, I got a room to myself, though we spent most of our time basking in the sun (or under the stars) on the top deck anyway. Our meals on the boat were
Temple of Literature
The first university in Vietnam. spectacular and far more than we could ever hope to eat. We had a lot of authentic Vietnamese food, and I ate all the seafood since the girls were less than thrilled about prawns and squid complete with tentacles, etc.
The first day we enjoyed the view on the top deck while our boat took us to the Amazing Cave, and yes, that is its actual name. The Chinese decorated the cave with neon lights that most westerners find cheesy and unattractive, but I found they added a sense of depth to the cave that gave it a new dimension. The short hike was nice and the cave was worth the viewing. We got ice cream and relaxed on the boat before swimming in the extremely salty water next to an oyster farm. Then it was dinner and lying out under the stars. In the morning, we set off kayaking after breakfast. We went into Cat Ba National Park, areas accessible only by kayak, and both beautiful and peaceful. Another swim, followed by showers and packing finished up our Halong Bay tour. It was such a beautiful 2 days and well worth the effort.
Back in Hanoi, the
Hanoi Hilton
The POW camp during the war. girls and I went out for one last dinner and chance for souvenirs before they caught an airport taxi to fly back to Bangkok. It was sad to see them go. It’s not like I’d known them for very long, but they made a trip I was previously nervous about very comfortable and I know I had twelve times more fun than I would have seeing the exact same things on my own. I got my luggage and while walking back to the $10 a night hotel got pulled in by a more competitive hotel on the same alley, offering a $6 a night room complete with color TV with actual English channels and free internet. Sold! I went to bed watching HBO, grateful for the chance to relax before attacking Hanoi on my own. As sad as it was to see the girls leave, I had plenty of time left on my trip and was filled with a sense of adventure, more comfortable with the city than as if I had just arrived there on my own, and ready to explore it by myself.
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Mark
non-member comment
My sweety the world traveler,
My love it looks like you have had some amazing experiences and gotten to see some amazing sights. I've seen some things too, but not nearly as many as you it would seem. I can only hope that once you get back we start seeing more of the same things on our adventures together instead of splitting up and seeing seperate things, cause that's no fun at all. All my love, Your future husband.