Hue ,Vietnam… our sort of kooky hotel bathroom

Video of a typical street crossing in Hanoi.

I know everybody has made a big deal of the anarchy that is Vietnam traffic…
Seriously, after nearly a month of it, we began to really enjoy the game.
When you get to the point of being blas’e about it… it’s time to get back to where you came from…

Vietnam Markets in pictures.

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Nha Trang

Nha Trang is a beach resort for foreigners it appears… a beach destination for Russians on holiday, judging from the amount of Cyrillic writing everywhere. This fact may make the night life a bit livelier than some other parts of Vietnam. Nha Trang feels a bit like Can Cun or Key West on a small scale.
We are sitting on the beach under a palm leaf palapa, reading and drinking hot tea. It has been raining lightly, but we hope it will clear up some.
We have three nights in Nha Trang.
Hopefully, we can leave our colds here (caught on the long bus ride to Ha Long Bay)… before we head back to HCMC and fly home.
I know from my blogs and pictures, it seems we’ve done nothing but eat… But the truth is, there has been so much more taken in, the food experience is just easiest to convey.
We had our best overall Vietnam dinner here in Nha Trang. Lanterns Vietnamese Restaurant was super good food, great service and a lovely setting.
Three dishes and a bottle of nice wine ended up being about $21 US. Crazy good!
Lanterns also has cooking classes, and does community work for less fortunate kids in the Nha Trang area. What is not to like about that?
Marie and I have noted a (well documented) divide in food preparation from north to south in Vietnam. Perhaps it comes from classic hotter climate/colder climate herb/spice and produce growing distinctions.
The north prides itself on salty and subtlety. The center of Vietnam on hotter (chiles) and aromatic (herbs) like Thailand. The south on hot and sweeter creations. Each area feels their food is the best.
I prefer the central and southern Vietnamese cooking… because of it’s intensity. Perhaps being brought up in San Diego (with lots of Mexican food influence) has a lot to do with that.
We are lucky to get a sunny day on day number two.
We park ourselves at the beach palapa for the whole day.
Reading, swimming, and walking on the beach is about as rough as it gets…
Did I mention we ate fresh scallops from a beach vendor, grilled right there on the beach? Living large!
Nha Trang, judging from the amount of dive shops around town, must be a hopping scuba diving/snorkling destination.

We found another great restaurant this evening (next door to our hotel!) Nha Hang Yen’s Restaurant.
We wholly swear by Trip Advisor if you take a tablet or laptop on vacation with you.
We have had such great luck with cool “finds” using Marie’s iPad during our stay in Vietnam.
Well… it’s off on a airplane again… back to Ho Chi Minh City, where it all started for us.
PS… I included a photo of our bill for dinner at Lantern’s. 460,000 Vietnamese Dong is $21.60 US.

Hanoi, New Years Eve Day.

Hanoi’s old quarter is bustling more than usual. This time it’s foot traffic not scooters. Hoan Kiem Lake is crowded with people, all wanting see and be seen, take pictures of the flower arrangements on exhibit here. Finally Marie and I have grown to enjoy the nutty lack of personal space on the street, and the crazy pace of the city streets. Of course this is not our day to day life.. we are just visiting.

It’s time to go out and see how Hanoi celebrates western New Year… The big party for them will be their Tet Lunar New Year.
We are off by airplane to Nha Trang tomorrow morning early , so us old folks won’t be watching the ball drop at 12:00am on Hoan Kiem Lake.
Party on Hanoi! We will miss you!

Trip to Ha Long Bay.

After a three and one half hour tail bone crushing bus ride we arrive in Ha Long Bay. The majesty of this place is amazing even before we board our boat. We are tendered from the dock to our anchored junk boat “The Eclipse”, and led to our berths.

I am at a loss to adequately describe the grandeur of Ha Long Bay. The solid rock mountains jut skyward as if floating on the water. Although I feel the word may be the most overused word in the English language… this place truly is AWESOME! I think the pictures do this place justice.

Part of our adventure is a visit to a cave within one of the massive rocks, discovered by the French in the mid twentieth century.

Taking pictures of the night moorings of many boats out here… it is a light show…  only the sound of the ocean lapping on the hull.

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Hanoi in pictures

The Gecko Restaurant a fun place to relax.

Spring rolls are becoming our yard stick to compare restaurants.

Missing our kitties…starting to see their shapes in things.

Amazing bonsai mangrove tree.

Mangrove trunk right at the sidewalk, very old… And taking over.

 

Marie trying to blend in on the street…

Lunch at Madame Hien…fantastic food, lovely setting.

Two dragons made out of fruit. Done for New Years Day celebration at Hoan Kiem Lake.

 

Hoan Kiem Lake, heart of the old quarter of Hanoi.

 

Tuan was looking to sell us postcards. His English was very good. We asked him to walk us around Hanoi for an hour instead… We had a nice improvised tour!

 

Sapa part two…

Day two… Trekking in Sapa .
We’re off for a 1/2 day trekking experience. We will be led through two ethnic minority tribal villages indigenous to the area (Red Dzu and Black Hmong) by a sparky, young Black Hmong woman named Chi.

Chi has a 5th grade education, speaks excellent English which she learned by hanging out with tourists.
It appears the Black Hmong and Red Dzu tribes had very little to do with each other until the Vietnamese government taught both tribes a common (Vietnamese) in school.
Now they have cooperative work and inter-tribe marriages. The trek was peaceful and informative about native life and its tenacity and hard-working simplicity. Both Marie and I marveled at Chi’s innate ability to make a life for herself in this rather stratified tribal environment. Here women’s futures seemed oppressive and tied to old ways. Chi was breaking the mold for herself. At 23 years old, unmarried and living in Sapa with roommates (rather than in her village with family) she was usual. She credits her liberal-minded parents for allowing this individuality (we think it is to her credit that she is a strong woman!) A generation ago, she may have had an arranged marriage at 14 years of age.
Sapa is a lovely small village __ picturesque in a third-world, Swiss Alps kind of way. As with most of what we have seen in Vietnam, nothing is wasted here. So much effort is expended just to survive day to day. But the people do it without complaint. There is no relief from the constant struggle, so the people just get stronger. Chi, our guide, was truly a self-made woman. It is inspirational to see what she is making of herself from such small, but wiley, resources.
The people of Sapa in many ways have more to overcome than overall Vietnam because of their cold climate (short growing seasons) and dauntingly steep terrain. The poverty level there is heartbreaking, but the level of positive/happy people is heartwarming.

Marie and Ly Thi Chi. (Chi)

Marie and I with our Black Hmong crew.

Chi’s sister and her baby.

Rice terraces cut into every hillside, no matter how steep.

A very young water buffalo.

Sapa, Vietnam Christmas day.

Merry Christmas in Sapa!

Our bus driver dropped us off just after sunrise at the wrong hotel, apparently a ploy to get us to stay at a hotel that the driver had working agreements with. It was too early in the morning for this Tom foolery… We were not amused.
After being left to locate our hotel on our own, we were still many hours too early for check in. We went over a possible day trek tour for tomorrow with our hotel clerk .
Sapa is a very mountainous village. The town itself is small, then trailing steeply off in all directions quickly. It does not take long to know your way around here.
The Sapa central market is somewhat typical of all that we have seen, charming and bustling. Food stuffs, fresh meats , and produce for the locals, ethnic handicrafts, and brand name knock offs for the tourists.

We did not really plan for the winter chill here. Although it is Christmas day at over a mile in elevation, we figured all vacations are shorts wearing vacations… When we arrived this morning it was probably upper 30′s. As we had time to kill waiting for our hotel, we opted to warm up at a health spa specializing in ethnic herbal hot soaking tubs.
Marie opted for a 60 minute facial. I the 30 minute tub.
My experience was very nice and perfect for the chill. A steaming wooden soaking tub that looked to be filled with dark tea, it smelled of wood bark, clove and cinnamon. The train and bus ride melted away from my muscle memory. Marie was less happy with her brusque and uninspired masseuse’s facial work.
Still… We are having the adventure of our lives.
A nippy golf cart ride back to our hotel… The new golf cart ( electric) had never been seen by the locals before. The Black Hmong tribal people and Sapa police crowded around the silent vehicle like it was an downed alien space craft. It is very cool to see things through such curious and innocent eyes.
Our room at the hotel is ready to check into.

As a general rule in Vietnam traffic, size rules. Large trucks and buses impose right of way to all things… unless you happen to be a 1000 pound water buffalo.

The train to Sapa from Hanoi.

The overnight train to Sapa…a comfortable four berth sleep over with strangers. Happy to have left Hanoi to it’s Christmas eve revelry… it is 9:15 p.m
We arranged our back packs, put in our ear plugs, and were ready for bed.
I sheepishly pantomimed to our Vietnamese and Japanese berth mates my apologies for the snoring… I knew would come from me.
My sleep was highly effected by the charming clamour of the train.
The ride was dream filled in a pleasant way, like a baby lulled to sleep in a rocker.

At 4:45 a.m the train conductor knocks at our door.
We have arrived in Lao Cai, just 1 1/2 miles from the Chinese border.
Lao Chi seems dirty and desperate… likely no tourists stay here.
For the lack of a tourist economy, the locals seem to constantly hustle for every tourist dollar they can squeeze. we are happy to get aboard our bus.
We have a crowded, slow climbing 1 hour ride up to the mile high village of Sapa.
Sunrise… Christmas day, 38 degrees… Good morning Sapa!