Vibrant Vietnam

Palm trees and red flags are everywhere. They have these colorful houses that are called tube houses. They were originally two stories high and very narrow. People used to be taxed on the width of their facade of their hose so some houses are as narrow as 3 meters. Now the law is changed and yet it seems to be still a tradition to build tall narrow houses. They look like they will topple over. Our hotel hat ten floors but the building was only about 14 feet wide! The front is painted very colorfully and the back and sides are left a natural gray cement color. They have great French style railings and arches and columns and half round windows. It doesn’t look like we are in a communist country.

Entering Vietnam: It is good to mention that our flight from China was stressful with the short layover in Guanxou in southern China. The airport there is large and impressive and new! But they have poor signage so we were lost and kept asking directions. These carts kept driving by and offering us rides, but when we got on they would ask for money, and we got off. They and we had to go though customs again because we had to change to the other terminal. So we had to skip this enormous line because our flight was only 20 mins away. A lady stopped us and told us to go back and we had to explain that we are transferring and we don't have two hours to wait in line. It was an interesting puzzle to solve.

The flight to Vietnam was delayed a bit so it was late at night. When we got to Hanoi Airport we were prepared with a visa pre-approval letter and two pictures. Yet we had no cash, it was a 25 dollar visa fee per person! I figured they’d take credit cards or allow us to use an atm. The woman just yelled at us in disbelief “you no cash?” “no cash?” and just shook her head and went on to help all the other tourists. The atms were outside of the customs area.. We couldn’t get through customs without any cash. So a woman named Sharon from Alaska gave us some money and we paid her back after we went through customs. The visa officers had green uniforms with red shoulder epaulets. If you are a Indiana Jones and the last crusade fan, you should know that the visa office reminded me of the german headquarters that the fireplace swiveled to reveal. And the lady who yelled "Alarm" when she saw the Jones boys, reminded me of the visa lady who gruffly said "no cash?!" I hope that makes sense.

We booked three tours from Hanoi in a row! Tour 1: City tour. We saw ho chi min’s tomb and his body preserved in a glass case. Soldiers were everywhere and they wouldn’t let you cross your arms or walk single file.






We then saw the Hanoi Hilton, otherwise known as Ha Lao prison. It was originally built by the French in the 1800s as a prison to help control the native population. There are models of shackled Vietnamese prisoners, and photos, and in one room a large iron guillotine rusts ominously at one end. Some rebellious Vietnamese were beheaded and their heads were put in baskets and hung in the town square for all to see.










When the French finally withdrew from Hanoi, the Vietnamese used the prison to hold Americans. There was a room at the end of the tour that spoke of this time period. There were videos that showed American soldiers eating Christmas dinner and playing ping-pong and receiving medical care in Hao Lo Prison. Today only about 1/3 of the prison remains in tact. Our tour guide spoke very poor English and was kind of sketchy, and stared at the ladies and made inappropriate jokes. He and the driver drank a few beers at lunch and so after lunch his English skills deteriorated. I wonder why he didn’t hand out the evaluation forms at the end.


Tour 2: Ha Lao and Tam Coc
The tour guide was awesome… at first. After we drove two hours with a madman bus driver who swerved for no reason it seemed. Just to keep us nauseous I guess. I mean at this point we are used to crazy driving… but this guy wins an award. Anyway, we saw the Confucius and Buddhist style temples where people worship the original emperor and empress of Vietnam. This was the original capital city, but only these temples remain. Later the capital was moved to Hanoi, then South to central Vietnam, then back to Hanoi. Then we were given the option to bike to the restaurant for lunch. Of the 6 who chose to ride, two never showed up at the restaurant. So our guides went to look for them and we waited in the sweaty heat for another two hours. The day was moving on and we hadn't seen much. We were starting to think this tour would be as poorly guided as the day before. Perhaps the guide was not to blame for losing the tourists... who knows. Anyway, things got better!



We finally found the missing men, and we took our boat tour. The boat tour was a once in a lifetime experience. The giant limestone cliffs rose up around us and we rowed through three caves and came out on the other side! The rowers often used their feet went their arms got tired. It was pretty amazing. They tried to sell us tshirts and home made crafts on the way back. We were a captive audience because we were stuck on a boat with them for another hour. We bought an silkish sewn item for two dollars and that seemed to make them happy. It will make a nice gift. They lady on the boat made a point of telling me how beautiful kaitlin is and how lucky I am.




















Tour 3: Ha Long Bay
So this tour is the big ticket item in town and now I know why. Many people hadn’t been able to go on their tours because there was a typhoon last week and the weather has been very stormy since. So the government every day determines whether the cruise is on or off. Sooo we met several groups of people who missed their tours so they ended up going on the city tour or the Tam Coc tours with us. We were hoping the weather would improve by Saturday. Sure enough we left on time at 815 am by bus from our hotel. We were excited because our driver was calm and level headed. Sadly we hit some sort of construction or accident and it took us forever… over 5 hours to reach Ha Long Bay City. When we arrived we were excited. However we were not on their list so we must have been at the wrong restaurant... or on the wrong boat. We were led down some stairs and around the building and across a stretch of wet uneven pavement. A man in a white shirt said lunch on the boat is 10 dollars then we return to Hanoi to get our ten dollars back. We were so confused. Return to Hanoi, now?? Some Malaysian women explained that the tour had been cancelled due to bad weather. We were crestfallen. It was depressing. Why hadn’t they called us somehow during the 5 hr drive. We ate our lunch on the ship.. And marveled at the great woodwork and thought “it would have been nice to go on a cruise on this ship” And then at about 130pm the cruise director, a well dressed middle aged man with an official demeanor and a giant smile said “ I have some good news! We can cruise today!” I didn’t know what to believe. Would they get our luggage? What about the people who were on a van back to Hanoi?

Soon our captain was introduced, our keys handed out, and the luggage arrived, and we set sail. As we were waiting to set sail a rain storm came by and Kailtin was concerned. She didn’t trust the harbor master who made the decision to let us sail. She also didn’t’ trust the ship was seaworthy in a storm. It was a truly five star vessel and each room had an air conditioner and a balcony and a private bathroom. There were only about 30 people on board so it felt like a very personalized experience. The warm wind cooled us down as we set sail. We anchored in a sheltered cove with about 12 other boats for the night. The food was great, although heavy on the seafood like squid and crab. I definitely put on weight during this cruise. At 6pm there were cooking lessons and happy hour.

Just when I thought the trip couldn’t get any better we visited some caves at 8am the next day. The caves were enormous, and well lit with blue amber and white lights. The trip back to port, and the drive home was uneventful.. A mere 3.5 hours. What a treat! Our hotel was the first stop as well! We checked into the Hanoi Hilton Opera. Our room has a view of the opera house with yellow and white French crenellations. After a day to write the blog and explore the French quarter and the old quarter, we then will check out and catch the next flight to Cambodia.

Funny things-
The people in our bus all seemed to have coughing problems. As kaitlin said, “it sounds like a doctor’s office”
The streets are well maintained for a country of this size and wealth. I’m impressed. The shops are clean and even the plastic chairs on the sidewalks look inviting.
People are calm here, and a bit more care-fee and casual than in some other Asian nations. It makes it fun to explore.
The Vietnamese people are beautiful, and smile a lot, yet a lot of the men have hairy moles. With long hairs coming out, we wonder if that is a cultural preference. Interesting.
The food here is so cheap! We paid only 16 dollars for a full dinner for two people. Even the most expensive restaurants are only 40 dollars for two people. Snacks and some souvenirs are super cheap. We bought some cool straw hats for only a dollar each.
We’ve seen all kinds of things on the highways. Huge baskets with pigs, dogs, or geese on the back of the bikes.
I’m impressed with the number of Asian tourists. I feel like ten years ago there was more of a segregation between the classes. Now Asian and European tourists all travel the same circuit. It is a testament to the growing weath in these nations, and it certainly makes it an interesting educational experience.