Going along the coast, our stops included Hoi An and Nha Trang off the coast of the South China Sea. The town of Hoi An is heavily influenced by French architecture with many buildings lying along the Thu Bon River, many in their crumbling state. The city was used in the 17th century by Japanese, Chinese, and European merchants and so the city's character is reflected by their influences. You will see temples, pagodas, and mustard colored French maisons. There isn't much to do in Hoi An but that is exactly the charm walking around watching the men make silk lanterns and the many myriad of artisans going about their business from carving wood works to painting to doing hand made embroidery. The place in the evening has a soft quality as the same lanterns are hung on bridges and rivers and provide various colors of light along the walking boulevards.
There is actually a pretty decent beach in the area, so what better way to get out there then rent a bike and peddle ourselves out there. Not knowing the roads that well, we opted to get one bike with Sabeen on a makeshift seat on the back, while I peddled. We got the hang of it after a few shaky starts and were off peddling down the road. Earlier, when we were trying to store our bike an unofficial looking guy supposedly security told us to move along and park our bike across the street. We ignored him and walked a few hundred feet down the road and locked up our bike. The beach was long and wide but the waves were pretty choppy and large, so we went in but took caution and stayed somewhat close to the shore. Upon coming back from the beach our bike was nowhere to be found, so we did the sensible thing with Sabeen marching down to the same unofficial looking guy and asking him for our bike. He was busy playing cards with his family and pretended he didn't know. We didn't relent and kept asking him, he would point and go back to his card playing. We were determined that we would have our way or he would have a very difficult and annoying time playing his cards with us repeatedly asking him for our bike. Finally a man took mercy and walked us to the beach where our bike was thrown on the sand. With no damage done, we were off again back to town.
The stop in the next beach town of Nha Trang could be described in one word "rainy". The wet season was in full swing in the south, so while we got a chance to sit on the sand, most of the time it was pouring non stop. The next stop was Ho Chi Minh City and also our exit place to Cambodia. Ho Chi Minh was hot and humid and contains several sites related to the Vietnam War, such as the Reunification Palace and the War Remnants Museum. The former was the place where North Vietnamese tanks crashed through the gates in 1975 and which officially ended the war. The latter contains some amazing and graphic photos from the horrors of war with many evidence documented by American, English, and Japanese photographers who among many were sadly killed while covering the war. After spending a few days in this adrenaline charged city maybe blamed on the strong Vietnamese coffee, we exited for Cambodia.
Showing posts with label vietnam. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vietnam. Show all posts
A Poetic City
Our arrival in Hue, the cultural and poetic heart of the Vietnam was very welcoming as the city sits along the Perfume River and is dominated by the Citadel, the royal palace of the Nguyen Dynasty. The city itself was very green with lots of parks, wide sidewalks, and delicious local foods. Strolling through the parks in the evenings along the river, one would find the young in the embrace of their lover sitting on their motorbikes parked discretely under the shades of old wide trees.
The Citadel was a former imperial city and much of the site sadly was in ruins as it was heavily bombed during the Vietnam War but is in the process of being restored. The parts that are still standing consist of the Imperial Enclosure and the Forbidden Purple City used by the emperor as his pleasure palace. During the war, to protest the policies of the government again monks, a Buddhist monk by the name of Thich Quang Duc immolated himself in Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) in front of the Imperial Palace and so his home pagoda, called Thien Mu was worth a visit. We decided to walk to the site on really hot sunny day, which was both a blessing and a curse, since we hadn't really seen the sun for a while but while being out without any shade, sort of wished for a cloudy or cooler day.
While walking around, you realize that Vietnam is a copy cat nation and we saw lots of logos, lettering, and colors being used on local shops. Also, many hotels will copy the same name, hoping to detract travelers from going to the real one. It is best to have an address as going by name alone may lead you to a completely different place.
The Citadel was a former imperial city and much of the site sadly was in ruins as it was heavily bombed during the Vietnam War but is in the process of being restored. The parts that are still standing consist of the Imperial Enclosure and the Forbidden Purple City used by the emperor as his pleasure palace. During the war, to protest the policies of the government again monks, a Buddhist monk by the name of Thich Quang Duc immolated himself in Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) in front of the Imperial Palace and so his home pagoda, called Thien Mu was worth a visit. We decided to walk to the site on really hot sunny day, which was both a blessing and a curse, since we hadn't really seen the sun for a while but while being out without any shade, sort of wished for a cloudy or cooler day.
While walking around, you realize that Vietnam is a copy cat nation and we saw lots of logos, lettering, and colors being used on local shops. Also, many hotels will copy the same name, hoping to detract travelers from going to the real one. It is best to have an address as going by name alone may lead you to a completely different place.
Some Caves and a Boat Ride
Trains in Vietnam are a lot like the ones in China but cost less. The nice thing is that even with a hard sleeper you have a door that you can close as long as you don't mind being in the company of the locals. The real downside is that the sleeper bunks are really hard and my sides were sore from sleeping on the almost thin piece of padding that passes off for a mattress. I met some Vietnamese doctors who were attending a conference in Hanoi, which is probably the best paid legitimate job in the country but couldn't get a lot of details but their main desire was of course to make just as much money as their counterparts in the US.
While in Ninh Binh, we went to Cuc Phuong, a national park dedicated by Ho Chi Minh himself, which contains a lot of hikes through primary rain forest and a 1,000 year old tree but a highlight is the Endangered Primate Rescue Center, which has monkeys rescued from illegal traders. About 140 primates are bred in captivity and sometimes released back into their native environment to go on with their swinging lifestyle. Another cave was supposedly habitated by man 7,500 years ago and stone tools along with axes were found at the site, all we found was the cave huge opening and some trash.
The country is laid out north to south and there are booking agents in all the towns to get you to your next destination with just a small commission fee charged for the convenience makes it a breeze to travel and is a cheaper option than the trains. So following that orientation, Tam Coc lies just south of Hanoi and its highlights includes the vegetation covered karst peaks and caves that you get rowed through on an open boat. Once on the working river with fishermen, women picking snails, and kids on the banks fishing, the rower picked up another woman, who I think was his daughter and we began our trip. The boatmen don't always row the boat with their hands but instead sometimes use their feet, which must require some coordination to get it right. The experience goes through several dark caves with stalagtites and sometimes the dripping sound of the water percolating from above. As we emerged into the sunlight, the daughter began the obligatory sales pitch as tourists are constantly hassled to buy everything. This woman was selling handmade embroidered clothing and paintings, which were beautiful but we often turn down a lot of such offers due to our limited space and the length of our travels.
The place is littered with caves and there is one called Bich Dong, which has a buddhist temple inside and looks like something out of an Indiana Jones movie set. The place is dimly lit with high cave ceilings and more stalagtites above. There are also columns supporting the cave walls and which will sadly someday fall and take the entire thing down with them.
While in Ninh Binh, we went to Cuc Phuong, a national park dedicated by Ho Chi Minh himself, which contains a lot of hikes through primary rain forest and a 1,000 year old tree but a highlight is the Endangered Primate Rescue Center, which has monkeys rescued from illegal traders. About 140 primates are bred in captivity and sometimes released back into their native environment to go on with their swinging lifestyle. Another cave was supposedly habitated by man 7,500 years ago and stone tools along with axes were found at the site, all we found was the cave huge opening and some trash.
The country is laid out north to south and there are booking agents in all the towns to get you to your next destination with just a small commission fee charged for the convenience makes it a breeze to travel and is a cheaper option than the trains. So following that orientation, Tam Coc lies just south of Hanoi and its highlights includes the vegetation covered karst peaks and caves that you get rowed through on an open boat. Once on the working river with fishermen, women picking snails, and kids on the banks fishing, the rower picked up another woman, who I think was his daughter and we began our trip. The boatmen don't always row the boat with their hands but instead sometimes use their feet, which must require some coordination to get it right. The experience goes through several dark caves with stalagtites and sometimes the dripping sound of the water percolating from above. As we emerged into the sunlight, the daughter began the obligatory sales pitch as tourists are constantly hassled to buy everything. This woman was selling handmade embroidered clothing and paintings, which were beautiful but we often turn down a lot of such offers due to our limited space and the length of our travels.
The place is littered with caves and there is one called Bich Dong, which has a buddhist temple inside and looks like something out of an Indiana Jones movie set. The place is dimly lit with high cave ceilings and more stalagtites above. There are also columns supporting the cave walls and which will sadly someday fall and take the entire thing down with them.
Village Life
Northwestern Vietnam contains a lot of minority villages surrounded by misty mountains and waterfalls. So a stop in Sapa after catching a bus from Loi Cai was essential to check out some rural village life and get away from the fast pace of Hanoi. Sapa itself is pretty touristy and a lot of the village women from the Red Dzao tribe have taken the trade of touting tourists and selling them a lot of their wares, which includes hand woven bags, scarves, blankets, and other garments. Sapa consists of one main road which connects to a market, restaurants, hotels and has plenty of simple rural sights to keep one occupied such as caged birds, roaming chickens, and village kids.
Regardless, the hiking in the area is suburb as we visited a village called Cat Cat where a lot of the handicrafts come from. Leaving the village behind, you enter the jungle and start to hear the gushing river and the many waterfalls that surround the area. Our entire time in Sapa was cloudy but it added to the mystery as low hanging clouds would obscure the sites and even the glow of the lights in town would lend an eerie site. Sometimes the clouds would part to let in a little bit of sunshine, which would reveal the surrounding mountains, although the highest peak in Vietnam Fanxipan was never seen.
Continuing our hike through the jungle, we decided to take a breather and stop by the river bed only to be stopped again by a slight discomforting feeling near our feet. We looked down and found blood sucking leeches clinging to our toes and ankle. Hastily we pulled off the beasts and felt both completely grossed out and initiated into the country. Not wanting to back track and go back to Hanoi, we opted to go to Ninh Binh in the east of the country to visit Tam Coc, also known as "Halong Bay on the Rice Paddies".
Regardless, the hiking in the area is suburb as we visited a village called Cat Cat where a lot of the handicrafts come from. Leaving the village behind, you enter the jungle and start to hear the gushing river and the many waterfalls that surround the area. Our entire time in Sapa was cloudy but it added to the mystery as low hanging clouds would obscure the sites and even the glow of the lights in town would lend an eerie site. Sometimes the clouds would part to let in a little bit of sunshine, which would reveal the surrounding mountains, although the highest peak in Vietnam Fanxipan was never seen.
Continuing our hike through the jungle, we decided to take a breather and stop by the river bed only to be stopped again by a slight discomforting feeling near our feet. We looked down and found blood sucking leeches clinging to our toes and ankle. Hastily we pulled off the beasts and felt both completely grossed out and initiated into the country. Not wanting to back track and go back to Hanoi, we opted to go to Ninh Binh in the east of the country to visit Tam Coc, also known as "Halong Bay on the Rice Paddies".
Arrival in Vietnam
Hanoi, steeped in history is a hectic energetic city and the mix of French architecture, especially in the Old Quarter with Hoan Kiem Lake as its watery center and the modern hotels forms a picturesque backdrop that mixes the past with the present well. The entire city seems like it's made up of tight little alleys, which thank god for the traffic seems almost to be made up of mopeds and motorcycles because otherwise things would come to a standstill very quickly. Navigating is a bit of a challenge as the same street will change its name at every turn. Little puffs of steam come out from street corners serving up the specialty that is Pho, which is just noodle soup with beef, dried onions, mint, and some simple spices.With Mao's body preserved in Beijing, we had to knock off another mausoleum with yet another preserved head of state, so off we went to see Ho Chi Minh himself as he was when he died in 1969. We were quickly shuffled through the site and found his star and sickle and hammer draped coffin lying with military guards at attention.
As difficult as it seems at first to navigate the city, Hanoi is a pretty small city in size and we were able to visit all the sites on foot, which included the Temple of Literature, a place where Confucianism was taught.
Vietnam has a storied past with the occupation of the French and then the Vietnam War, so visiting Hoa Lo Prison built by the French to suppress Communist leaders was an eye opening and sometimes graphic insight into the past. The prison also housed downed American pilots (POWs) during the Vietnam War, dubbed "Hanoi Hilton" by the prisoners and included a short documentary showing the bombing of the city along with letters, uniforms, and pictures of the inmates. A famous inmate was John McCain and showed his visit to the prison.
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