April 16 (Entry #19)

Posted by Howard Simpson at 4/18/2008 1:20 AM
Categories: uncategorized
Goooooooood Morning, Vietnam!!!!  (come on...you had to see that one coming)

I started off my much anticipated Vietnam trip in the north in Hanoi. the country's capital.  I really liked the energy of this city.  There are a billion things going on at once.  It's kind of like organized chaos.  I probably couldn't spend more than a week in this environment, but for the few days I was there, it was great.  The first thing one has to know about Vietnam is
that there are no traffic rules...or if there are, no one listens to them.  I've been to many places with bad/scary driving (Egypt and China top the list), but they have nothing on Vietnam.  Not only are cars (well, actually mostly motorcycles) going in all directions, but the traffic never stops.  Crossing the street is like a game of Frogger.  You just go and move back and forth until you get across.  I felt like George Costanza every time I stepped into the street.   

As crazy as the traffic was, I had to experience it for myself.  I quickly discovered that the cheapest, most readily available, and most fun way to experience the city is on the back of someones motorcycle.  Every time I walked anyway there was always someone offering me a ride on their 'moto.'  I finally decided to take someone up on it and it was great.  I'm not
  going to lie...it was a bit nerve racking at times, but I have to believe there is no better way to see the city.  As he was cutting in and out of traffic, with cars coming from the front, left, right, and behind, I just sat there and watched the city go by.  It was great...oh, and did I mention he offered to sit and wait for me wherever I went so that he could drive me to the next place?  All in all, for a grand total of $5, I had my own driver who showed me around the city for the day.

With the triumph of riding on a motorcycle in Hanoi behind me, I daringly sought out to truly experience the city in another way...the food.  I'm not talking about just eating Vietnamese food, but actually eating where the locals sit.  I decided I would sit down at a place if I saw at least 5 people already there (as if that would indicate something good about it).  On my way walking around the city on my second day, I saw a group of five ladies sitting on stools on the curb, while a sixth lady took ingredients from a basket and put them in a pot that was sitting on coal on the side walk.  A cheaper restaurant location could not be found.  I stood for a minute staring closely when one of the ladies pointed to a stool and I sat down.  The soup was really really good.  And the company wasn't bad either.  This one lady spoke
to me the whole time, of course it was in  Vietnamese and so I never responded...but she kept talking.  At the end, my bill for this great meal was equivalent to 62 cents.  It was great and I felt no ill-effects of my decision in the following days.   (Of course, not 2 days later I get on a plane and am handed a free paper, which has the headline:  "Hanoi battles cholera outbreak, over 130 infected, another 1,600 hospitalized for diahrrea.  Street vendors main culprit")  
Aside from the cultural experiences I just shared, most of my time was spent at museums and other sites.  The Ethnology Museum was a great one.  It displayed many of the different ethnic groups in Vietnam, how they live, and how they are dealing with urbanization of their villages becoming towns becoming cities.  Another highlight was the Temple of Literature, which is a huge plot of land filled with different buildings once used as a university and dedicated Confucius back in 1070.  Hoan Kiem Lake was also a good spot.  You could just sit by the lake and read, or walk over the bridge to the Ngoc Son Temple, which was located on an island in the middle of the lake.  Hoa Lo Prison Museum was very interested, perhaps due more to current events than anything.  It was originally a prison used by Vietnam to house any government opposition in the early and mid 1900s.  More
recently though, it was home to many POWs (who had nicknamed it "Hanoi Hilton", including current presidential nominee, John McCain.  The museum was pretty well done.  I found it interested how it portrayed how brutal and torturous the conditions were when Vietnamese prisoners were held there, but when they discussed the POWs, they showed pictures of them playing basketball in the yard, playing cards, watching a movie, and celebrating Christmas...hmmmm  

  By far though, the best site was the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum.  Inside lies former leader Ho Chi Minh's body and it's embalmed and out there for all to see just like it was the day he died. Unfortunately, no cameras were allowed inside, so you'll have to take my word for it, but it was definitely interested.  Oh, and in case you were wondering, Ho Chi Minh actually requested to be cremated...oops.

After Hanoi, it was off further north to Sapa.  Everyone I spoke to who had been to Vietnam either said Sapa was great and I had to go, or that Sapa was the one thing they wish they didn't' skip and therefore I had to go.  Well, to be honest, I wasn't as im pressed.  Maybe it was everyone's high praise that doomed me to have such lofty expectations.  Don't get me
wrong, I liked it, but it's not a must see, at least not what I saw.  The town was your basic tourist town with a lot of hotels and a lot of people selling things.  If you showed the slightest bit of interest in anything, you would literally become surrounded by 20 girls trying to sell you some knick knack.  Once I got up there, I hired a guide, Chom, who was from the local village to take me and a few other people on a trek.  We walked to her village and saw great scenery and learned a lot, but unfortunately, much of the lush hills that are supposed to be highlights of Sapa were covered in mist.  It was an interested day though, as Chom, who was 17, told us about her family, including one sister who has recently died and another who was stolen a long time ago, likely taken and sold in China.  


  After Sapa, I headed to Halong Bay.  Now this met all my expectations.  We sat on a boat all day and just sailed around these rocks that just jetted up straight from the water.  There were hundreds of different rocks/islands like this, each more amazing than the one before it.  It accounted for great scenery and a great sunset.  The first night in Halong Bay I spent on a boat.  There
were 4 other people on the boat in my age group and they were definitely good fun.  The next day, after a sunrise kayak, the boat docked at Cat Ba, the only island in Halong Bay to be inhabited.  Me and the four people I met on 
 the boat spent the day at a "water park"...although it was really just two slides and a big pool.  The bigger slide was turned off and the smaller slide was no bigger than a slide you would find at a local park.  Oh well, the pool itself was a nice change.  While the wharf at Cat Ba was full of boats, we didn't see many other foreigners when we went out that night.  Fortunately, the five of us formed a coalition of the willing, and we made it a real fun night.		  

Now I am off south to continue exploring Vietnam. 

Click here for pictures of Vietnam (there are a lot this time)...
 

What did you think of this article?




Trackbacks
Trackback specific URL for this post
  • No trackbacks exist for this post.
Comments
Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

Leave a comment

 Enter the above security code (required)

 Name

 Email (will not be published)

 Website

Your comment is 0 characters limited to 3000 characters.