Hanoi

After another overnight train ride (soft sleeper, more sleep) we arrived at 0530 in Hanoi.  With nothing scheduled yet, we headed for the neighborhood where the travel agency was located.  Everything was shut down of course,  so we went to the lake in the center of downtown.  It was just getting light, but things were bustling.  By the lake, many groups of people were doing Tai Chi or other exercise programs.  Someone in the group would bring a boom box, set it up with Vietnamese music playing, and start exercises.  Some groups were more organized than others, and all had different forms of workouts.  Lots of individuals also worked out, slapping their limbs, jogging in place, or stretching. 

About 0630 we decided to find some breakfast, and found a lakeside restaurant with early opening and a great view.  Another bowl of Pho and some coffee, and we were ready for the day.

We found Handspan Travel in the old city and started making arrangements.  We would leave the same night for the northern mountain town of Sapa for hiking; after four days we would return and go to Halong Bay for kayaking; spend two days in Hanoi and then return to Ho Chi Minh City.  We also arranged a tour of the Mekong Delta with Handspan.  Handspan is one of many agencies that provide guides, transportation, and other services for travelers to Vietnam, and has a good reputation for good service and equipment at reasonable prices.

The old town of Hanoi is a fascinating group of narrow streets, jammed with people on foot and motorbike.  The street level is retail, with houses in the upper levels.  There are wide sidewalks, but they are taken over as bike parking and outdoor cafes, so one must walk down the side of the street.

The town maintains an ancient tradition of grouping retail trades together.  There’s silk street, leather street, metalwork and hardware street, bamboo street, appliance street.  A fascinating array of materials on display.  What wasn’t on display was going by on bicycle or motorbike – birds, fish, veggies for sale; pipe, furniture, boxes being moved; food peddlers of all sorts.  Some people carried mobile cookpots – stove on one end of the carry pole and food to cook on the other; others carried fruits or vegetables to sell to occupants or passers-by.  Yes, they use carry poles with baskets on each end, and wear conical bamboo hats.  Bicycles and motorbikes are converted for hauling every imaginable item.  And the riders, most dressed for the workday, many carrying children, flowed continuously down the streets.

Mostly, we wandered the streets, amazed by the sights of ordinary Vietnamese life.  Also, the streets were laid out in an odd pattern and it was not unusual to take a while to navigate back to the hotel.  It made one hungry, and there was plenty of excellent food to be had.  Not far from the ocean, the seafood was plentiful and excellent.  Sometimes fried, but more often grilled or steamed, we had more shrimp, crab, squid and fish than we had in some time.  With light seasonings, the preparations were always different, completely unlike Chinese food and better than most Vietnamese restaurants at home.  More on food later; we’re off to the train station and the mountains. 

Lots of pics on Flickr of scooters, food and people of Hanoi.

Hue, Imperial City

  We enjoyed the last part of the train ride to Hue, which is mid-way up the country of Vietnam.  The route follows close to the coast, and we watched daily life go by.  We climbed over the mountains and could see the beaches near DaNang, now very popular tourist sites.  In mid-afternoon we arrived in Hue.

After a rest we went out for a walk, and headed for the riverside.  The city is situated on the Perfume River, not far from the sea, and life centers on it.  Boats of all sizes and types can be seen, single fisherman to industrial cargo.  It is far enough south it is still tropical, and fruit vendors are everywhere, with dragon fruit, sugar cane, mangosteen, lychees and many others.  We found more bicycles than motorbikes here, a nice change.

In the evening we had a fabulous dinner, with local specialties which have more French influence than some areas.  Later we went back to the river and found tour boats taking evening cruises.  We negotiated a good price, and headed downriver at sunset to a pagoda.  It was further than we thought and was nearly dark when we got there.  Still, the boatmen encouraged us to get out and have a look around.  It was near full moon and the pagoda in the moonlight was magical.  On the return trip we saw the city lights on the river.

Next morning we went to explore.  Hue was once the center of the principal Vietnamese kingdom, and remains of palaces, pagodas, and burial grounds are abundant.  We ignored the pleas of the pedicab drivers (“it’s too far to go by yourself”) and rented bicycles and threaded our way through traffic across the city.  We visited the Citadel, the imperial palace of its day.  Only a portion has been restored, but it was easy to see what a gem it was.  With much Chinese influence in the architecture,  it seemed familiar, but with local flavors.  We rode through neighborhoods past he fish vendors, bird vendors, motorbike shops, drying incense and all  (lots of pictures on Flickr).

We visited the pagoda we’d seen the night before, and found a large complex of palaces on the river.  After exploring the area we pedaled back across the river to prepare for the next leg of the trip – another night train, this time bound for Hanoi.

Ho Chi Minh City

We arrived on schedule in Ho Chi Min City (HCMC / Saigon), and  the airport transfer to hotel we arranged also showed up.  It was late (11:30PM) local time, so we just crashed when we got to the hotel.  Next morning the front desk called about breakfast; the hotel had just been built and had no breakfast room yet, so they’d send it up to our room.  Would we like Vietnamese or Western style?  We knew Vietnamese would be Pho ( Vietnamese noodle soup) so went for that.  Up came two steaming bowls of chicken noodles, pot of tea for Ellen and strong coffee for me.  We knew we were in the right place.

After getting our bearings we set out on a walking tour of the city.  We were near the old city center and soon found ourselves by the Palace Hotel, on the river.  Our first challenge was crossing streets.  While there are signals, the flow is constant from one direction or another, with no real gaps.  After following some locals, we learned; give large vehicles the right of way, everything else, you have to pick a destination point and go, no slowing or stopping.   Traffic in the city is 90% motorbikes, with a few bikes and insistent taxis in the mix.

We enjoyed the local sights and got a feel for the city, which we would visit more later.  One surprise was all the preparations for Christmas.  It was early December, but still, Vietnam?  All the big hotels were starting to decorate, and across from the Catholic church was a store packed with home decorations.

Back at the hotel we had the staff arrange our next segments – a night train to the north, stopping in Hue for a couple of days, then continuing on to Hanoi.  The train options were Hard Seats (like it sounds), Soft Seats (airline-style seats, but sitting up for the night), hard sleeper and soft sleeper.  We wanted Soft Sleeper, but none were available as soon as we wanted to go, so we took Hard Sleeper.  It’s an experience, right?

We left HCMC that evening on the train.  We soon learned that the most important difference between hard and soft sleeper berths was not the padding – it was adequate – but the ‘hards’ have six people to a compartment, and the ‘softs’ have only four.  Six is tight, with the lower bunk having not enough space to sit up, and the top one at the ceiling.  Also, with an evening departure, there was plenty of time for stops to the north with people coming and going from the room at night.  Also the WC in the car is a porta-potty size room, swaying, with only a hole in the floor.  Hold on!

But we made got some sleep, arriving in Hue the next afternoon after some great sights from the train along the way.

Above, our hard sleeper; the ‘ceiling’ you see is actually the bottom of the top bunk!  As always, lots more pictures on FLICKR.

Why Vietnam?

It started with an article in the travel section of the local newspaper.  A man had travelled Vietnam by himself, mostly by train, stopping to see the local sights.  It looked beautiful, and easy to make our own arrangements, which we prefer.   It also referred to a website, the Man in Seat 61, which reviews train travel around the world.  The videos and other info there also piqued our interest.

We had never been to Southeast Asia, though Ellen had a stopover in Bangkok on the way to Nepal many years ago.  Though asked many times during the trip, I had not gone to Vietnam during the war; I was in school after a medical deferment.  Most men of a certain age visiting Vietnam were veterans, going to see the country they’d been in 40 years ago.  

We talked to friends who had visited recently as travelers and got some tips.  I also started looking at tour websites to see what was available, and what to expect.  We planned what we wanted to see.   The Mekong Delta, with its rivers, jungles, and abundant food;  Saigon / Ho Chi Minh City, the city best known by Americans (the locals call it Ho Chi Minh); Hue, the ancient capital city; Hanoi, the new capital and center of the north; Halong Bay, a scenic marvel on the coast east of Hanoi;  the northern mountain town of Sapa, a center of Hmong minority culture (Ellen has many Hmong friends from work).

We got the Lonely Planet guide and went to work.  The trip would take three weeks on the ground, and include hiking, biking, kayaking.  The plan was to get to Saigon (called HCMC from here on) make transportation plans with local travel agents, and do a series of guided tours in the different localities.  This way we could stay flexible, but use guides and local transport for the actual site visits.

The only thing we booked in advance was the flight, and the first two nights in HCMC.  We have a large Vietnamese community in Portland and so I figured a local travel agent would have a lot of experience with these trips, and local connections.  Sure enough,  Falcon Travel was busy booking flights for Vietnamese planning to visit home for Christmas, and had great deals.  He got flights, and Vietnam visa service, for less than I’d found online.  He also had a new hotel in HCMC with a good rate, and could pick us up at the airport (we had an11PM arrival).

We booked the flights, and were on our way.

Continuing the adventure

 

Let’s try this again.   I’m going to finally write about our trip to Vietnam last December.  Then, hopefully keep up with our activities before I get behind again. 

We’re quite busy.  The Oregon Food Bank has a 5-acre garden that we work in every week, producing fresh produce to go into food parcels for the hungry.   It’s a great organization, and the volunteers there every week are a nice group of people to know.

We both volunteer at Lan Su Chinese Garden in Portland.  I usually greet visitors at the gate, while Ellen helps with activities such as making bookmarks or story time.

We finished another term of Chinese language classes, recognizing a few characters, and working on common greetings.  This summer we’ll practice with classmates and friends at the Chinese garden.  Challenging, but fun.

We help with the local elementary school’s garden also.  They’re struggling to get participants, but the idea is to get kids interested in vegetable gardening, and healthy eating.   We help with garden-related activities like building bean tepees, staking tomatoes, planting starts and seeds, etc.  Many of the kids have no yard at home, so haven’t really seen a home garden.

Ellen’s been making more glass art, working on more challenging pieces.  I moved some things around in the garden, and even with a very wet spring the tomatoes are doing well.  We had a successful open garden, made some new friends, and look forward to a good barbecue summer.

Now on to the recap of our last trip.