Vietnam. Hectic Hanoi and the tarnished, congested, beauty
of Halong Bay prompted me to mention to Barry, after about a week, that I was
not attached to staying in Vietnam. Don’t get me wrong, we’ve had good times,
taken in some great museums and feel like we were learning about the fascinating
country and its history of both occupation and war, but I was not happy. Barry
and I were bickering quite a bit, finding it hard to land together on common
ground. I now think that traveler’s (or possibly big city) fatigue, combined
with the “heaviness” of what we were seeing made it tempting (for me, at least)
to fantasize about leaving for other, maybe easier, places, even as we boarded our
sleeper train south to Dong Hoi. And then, that is when Vietnam started to win
our hearts.
Hanoi – a 1000 year old city that has lost many of its
ancient treasures to occupation and war. The guidebook describes it as a
“captivating city steeped in history”, a history which we’ve just skimmed the
surface of. Chinese influence is everywhere and we saw many Confucian statues,
lots of red and gold. We walked the Old Quarter of tall, narrow buildings
(taxation based on width) clogged with motorbikes and street vendors,each
street specifically selling a certain type of ware. For example, the shoe
street, tin box street, herb-seller street, and my personal favourite – the
street with the shops selling mannequins. Cone hats, baskets of goods hanging 2
on shoulder-hefted poles, cute well-dressed petite women zipping by on their
motor bikes are images that stick in my mind. Motorbikes piled high with
everything imaginable – I specifically recall one with 2 large porcelain urns
(at least 4 feet tall) strapped on either side of the seat behind the
driver. We ate roasted corn, and fried rice
pancakes, stuffed with sugar and peanuts (a local crop), at the night market
crammed with stalls selling cheap goods, and poked our noses into large bowls
of snails for sale in the Dong Xuan Market. Our guesthouse was just west of
Hoan Kiem Lake; very picturesque in the evening when all lit up, and maybe 3 km
to circumambulate (okay is that really a word or did I make it up?). Here we
watched a couple in wedding garb being photographed – how cute. Then, in front
of everyone passing by, they promptly started to change into another set of
clothes; he put a white suit on over the black one and she managed to completed
change her dress, with minimal skin exposure, for another shoot – models, not
bride and groom! I can’t say I found the people overly friendly, although those
involved in the service industry where very helpful and kind. The Hoa La Prison
Museum, built in 1896, was 1 of our favourite, although sobering, sites. It
housed many Vietnamese political prisonersbefore the Vietnam warand had
engaging displays, including a French guillotine. It also housed American
fighter pilots shot down during the late 60s and early 70s, when Hanoi was
being bombed – levelled in many cases. The display related to this part of the
museum’s history was well done, and made it look as if the American inmates
were very well taken care of (Christmas parties, movies, decent supplies and
volleyball games). My guidebook, however, alludes to that being only part of
the story – nowhere are there photos of torture. The Vietnamese Women’s Museum had a great
display on heroic women of the revolution, the role of women in society,
worship of the mother goddess, and a good display on ethnic tribes and their
different costumes. We visited the Fine Arts Museum which at times looked more
like a history museum with its stone and wood carvings from the 9th
and 10th centuries. The numerous, contemporary works of war-time
images (oil, laquer and silk paintings) a quiet record of how much this city,
and proud country have suffered. We visited the Temple of Literature (a good
example of well-preserved traditional Vietnamese architecture), although my
favourite image is that of Barry getting his hair and beard trimmed just
outside the temple walls on the sidewalk. Ask him about his close encounters
with the razor (no worries – no blood loss).
We watched delightful, masterful water puppetry. Overall, busy. Lots of
walking and dodging motorbikes, good food, and a quiet New Year’s Eve.
Halong Bay along the coast of the Gulf of Tonkin is one of
northern Vietnam’s supposed jewels. It is a destination that I’d predict 90% of
people travelling to Hanoi also take in. To get out on the water among the
karst (limestone) peaks that elbow their way out of the sea, one must get on a
boat which necessitates booking a tour. We booked a tour that had us sleeping 1
night on a 10 cabin boat, and 1 night in Cat Ba Town on the more remote Cat Ba
Island. Google these places, you’ll see why we went, but oh what a sight. Tour
boats everywhere were a definite distraction, at times I counted up to 40! However,
it was the garbage floating by and the dirty, blue-green water that really shocked
me. We’ve been in India and Nepal – we’ve seen garbage, but it was so unexpected
here in the ocean, it completely distracted me from the beauty on display. So
much plastic afloat out there, it brought fresh depth and meaning to the
display on the Pacific garbage patch we’d seen at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and
all our time of looking out over the Pacific. There is small scale, but
extensive, fish farming (plus mussels, prawns, and pearly oysters) done in the
floating villages. Interesting – entire communities, even dogs, living afloat
in almost every protected bay amongst the karst peaks, at times in great
concentration. Made me think of what I’d read in Jane Goodall’s Book “Harvest
for Hope” about fish farming and its impact on the environment. Do these
peoples feed the fish or treat them with antibiotics? We saw scads of what appeared
to be abandoned plastic baskets along so many shorelines, used to farm mussels
in sand. Do they ever get cleaned up? In fairness, there was a lot that was
good about our tour. We had a delightful, candid, knowledgeable guide Chuc and
connected with a lovely, like-minded couple from Portland, Jackie and Tom. We
got active: hiking over limestone, biking to a small remote town on Cat Ba
Island, and got ourselves into kayaks twice (although the water left our hands
feeling so sticky). Sadly though, the experience left me depressed, although it
may be one of those things that is good to see even though it generates
discomfort. There is a good story here I can bring to my classroom.
Not knowing what to expect, we next headed to Dong Hoi (train stop closest to Phong Nha)via
the overnight train in a ‘soft-sleeper”. Four berths, with air-con in a small
compartment. We spent the night with 2 delightful chaps from London – traveling
sans wife and girlfriend. They’d been living it up in Saigon over New Year’s
and regaled us with tales and videos of their escapades (while taking some
sleeping “medication” – read beer), which most notably included a snake meal.
They chose a snake from a cage, watched its fangs being removed with pliers and
its heart cut out while still living. They were served snake blood mixed with
alcohol, bile, the heart – raw, and various dishes cooked with the meat. Sorry
if this offends you – it is amazing what people will both buy and sell. I
wonder if any locals do this sort of thing, or other Asian tourists.
Regardless, these two (Gary and Lee) were a lot of fun and we enjoyed their
stories. We also ran into a young couple we had met numerous times since
arriving in Hanoi – Angie and Erin from north of Victoria, headed to the same
destination as us – Phong Nha National Park. For a bit they joined us and the
boys in our sleeper compartment.
Someone I once knew used to say “expect the unexpected” and
all we knew about where we were headed was that there were caves. We actually
weren’t overly interested in caves, we see ourselves more as hikers, but the
guidebook reassured us the hype about this park was valid. What we could not
anticipate was that we would stay for 5 days and nights, or that Phong Nha would
become one of our highlights. In this small, rural, less-visited village we found
caves of truly epic proportions (this is the home of Son Doong – claimed to be
the largest cave system in the world, and just recently discovered by a local),
in a landscape of lush, green, limestone mountains that spans the Ho Chi Minh
Trail; history and natural beauty both. We rode bikes through beautiful
villages and well-tended farmland – past rice fields, water buffalo, and neat,
tidy, houses. Everywhere we went people would call out “hello” as we passed. We
also, “magically”, got to live Barry’s dream. At the Easy Tiger Hostel, just
down the road from our hotel, and a real gathering spot for travelers, we found
2 good guitars, a simple sound system, and a staff almost desperate for
musicians. We played 3 nights at the Easy Tiger, and 2 nights at the “sister”
Phong Nha Farmstay 10 km out of town, with other players taking their turn. We
were rewarded with free dinners, beer, bike rentals, a day long tour to the
Paradise and Dark Caves (this cave featured a walk through knee-deep mud and swimming in the cave), and more importantly the opportunity to spend time
with these wonderful folks and their families. We spent many happy hours with
Erin and Angie, and with Barry’s encouragement Erin got up and sang on stage
for the first time in his life! (Note – Bar and I met in Canmore and erin and
Angie also met in Canmore – it was fate). We were older than most of the
travelers in the area, at least at the Easy Tiger, and had the distinct honour
of becoming “parents” to a few. Someone asked if Angie and Erin were our
children, and from that point on we became there “adopted” parents. The young, 23 year old Vietnamese woman behind the bar asked me my age the very first night we
were there, playing at the hostel. She guessed my age pretty close, and
mentioned that I reminded her of her Mom living about 160 km away. From then on
she started to call me Mom… Barry became Daddy. Even part-owner Hi (Vietnamese,
and I am most likely spelling his name wrong, 28 and soon to be married) joined
in the fun. A highlight was doing a set with Hi, an accomplished musician and
songwriter himself who had a great book of English cover tunes. Nothing could
beat singing John Denver’s “Country Roads” or Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” with
Hi, while Bar delivered some great lead breaks. We stayed up later and more
often, played pool, talked sustainable tourism, learned more about Vietnamese
life, and possibly both drank more than we have all trip. We will bring
precious memories of this place home with us – it is the “wind beneath our
wings” and will help carry us home. I know, a little hokey.
This has been a great, thought-provoking country to be in,
one we can see coming back to. There is still so much to
see, and such rich history. The people in my humble opinion, have a quiet,
industrious, beauty. I remember my Uncle Russ telling me, when we moved to
Walkerton, that local people can be friendly and welcoming, but you have to
meet them half-way. I think the same thing may be true here. As older
travelers, we are often greeted with a great deal of respect from young hotel
owners and servers. Thankfully, we have a few more days here to enjoy.
This is an amazing position to be in – so close to leaving
Asia we can count the days now on 2 hands. We are tired, proud, memories of
places and people popping up just like those karst mountains in Halong Bay.
Seems like we are gonna’ make it after all. We knew we would, of course, but to
be so close … it is its own rich experience. I know this feeling from work. You
can see the end, you know you’ll “make it”, and then you’ll get a chance to
relax (in a hot bath for one, and a soft bed for two). A number of days ago, we
received an email from our dear friend Anne encouraging us to cherish our last
days of travel (maybe this was an indirect reference to the Ontario weather we
are hearing about). At the time, “cherish” seemed impossible – “persevere”
might have been closer to what we were thinking. Now, however, end in sight,
still high on our Phong Nha connections, we’ve begun to cherish. Once again, we
are full of gratitude for our remarkable good fortune. There have been ups and
downs, and we are confident we’ll leave on a high.
I’m not sure when we will post again, although we will have
photos to add (Da Nang, Hoi An, and AnkorWat in Cambodia still to come, plus
stops in LA and Joshua Tree). Is it possible that we are somehow busier now
than we were before? Regardless, thanks to all who take the time to read. I’ve
loved writing – it has helped me feel connected to home on this “trip of a
lifetime”, and been a useful tool for processing the experience.It feels good
to have spent time going through our vast collection of photos; what a huge
task if left until we are home. Keep us in your prayers as we drive cross
continent, we still have some ground to cover, and start making plans for a
party! XOXOXO D
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