Hanoi & Halong Cruising

We left Hue, taking our first plane flight in awhile, which felt quite luxurious, and headed north to spend a few days in the capitol of Vietnam, Hanoi. We arrived to cooler temperatures, yippee, and enjoyed a couple days of sightseeing around Hanoi while we arranged our tour of Halong Bay. Back to the hustle and bustle of scooters and loads of traffic in Hanoi we enjoyed the local specialty Bun Cha for lunch everyday, an amazing cold noodle dish served with papaya, fresh herbs, and pork meatballs marinated in fish sauce with a huge bowl of fresh garlic and red peppers to add.



We visited 'Uncle Ho' at the national mausoleum, a very interesting experience that leaves no question that you are in a communist country. They take the viewing of their past leader very seriously, no cameras allowed inside, no standing on the grass, and guards at every turn. They line people up in rows of two, ask people to remove hats and sunglasses and quiet people if they talk. We happened to be behind a group of vietnamese tourists while visiting and you could tell that it was special for them to be there and that they had a lot of respect for Ho Chi Minh. It feels a little strange to view a dead person, even if he is well preserved and kept under glass, he looked very small and a little orange, but an experience nonetheless.



While touring Hanoi we arranged for a two night excursion out to Halong Bay, the bay features thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various sizes and shapes. One day of cursing on a "junk boat" with a night on board, and one day of hiking on Cat Ba Island (the largest island in the bay) followed by overnight at a hotel was on the agenda. Halong Bay looks like something out of a sci-fi movie, and with the cloudy gray skies we had on our visit it really had an mystical feel to it. I will let the pictures tell the story, but it is a beautiful place to visit and we enjoyed our night on the boat chatting with fellow travelers and having some fresh seafood. We visited a cave, went kayaking, Ross did some flips off the boat, and we slept peacefully out on the water. The following day we hiked up to a lookout in Cat Ba National Park and spent a quiet day walking around sleepy Cat Ba Island.






















Our visit was fun and definitely something cool to see, but the downside of Halong Bay is that it is filled with people doing exactly what you are. Junk boats abound and throngs of tourists visit so it is hard to feel like it is an authentic experience. That aside it is beautiful and I would say visit, just be prepared for a very touristy experience.

More Sights from Hue, Vietnam

Cooking it up in Hoi An & Visiting Hue

While Ross was off photographing I decided to signup for a cooking class in Hoi An.  We have been loving the Vietnamese food so I decided to learn a little more about it so I can hopefully recreate some dishes when we get home.  My class started with a morning trip to the market to learn all about the vegetables, spices, and herbs used in the traditional dishes.  Shopping at the market is an everyday practice for the Vietnamese and it is always a bustling place to visit.   The Vietnamese diet is very healthy and is full of fresh herbs, fish, pork and every rice creation you can think of (noodles, buns, cakes).





After learning about all the goods at the market we made three dishes and then got to feast on our work after the class.  I made fresh spring rolls, lemongrass grilled chicken, and papaya salad.  It was all delicious!  Unfortunately my camera battery died halfway through the class so you will just have to take my word that the food was great and maybe someday in the future I will cook some up for you to try.





Ross and I really enjoyed our time in Hoi An, we coined it "the Santa Fe of Vietnam".  The streets are lit by paper lanterns and are lined with art galleries and tailor shops ready to sew up anything your heart desires.  The main district is definitely touristy but the quiet streets of Hoi An and the surrounding countryside were great.  After three months on the road we have officially decided we are not big city people, they are fun places to visit but we always find that the places we want to stay are the quiet little towns that move at a much slower pace.  In Hoi An we once again rented some bikes to cruise around the town, it was an easy trip to several beaches and we also got to run out into the countryside without much traffic, a rarity in SE Asia.

Sad to move on but ready for our next adventure we took a bus and headed north for a few days in Hue.  Nestled along the Perfume River the town hosts the nineteenth-century walled citadel, the remnants of the Imperial City and seven royal mausoleums.  We started our tour with a dragon boat ride down the Perfume River to visit the Thien Mu Pagoda and then a few of the royal mausoleums.

We saved the Citadel for the second day and really enjoyed wandering through the walled city and exploring all of the sights.  Hue has a sleepy and peaceful feel to it that make it a must see for travelers.











Some fun observations:

1. If something is popular in Vietnam there will always be several copycats, this applies to restaurants, shops, and hotels.
2. Vietnamese men often have very long fingernails and grow very long mole hairs, good times.
3. Vietnamese women are the work horses of the country, you often see the men lounging at coffee and bia hoa (fresh beer) stalls, smoking and playing games but never the women. The women always seem to be working; from cooking to harvesting rice in the field they don't seem to have much leisure time.
4. Scooter traffic is something to marvel at, they drive and park on the sidewalks making walking on the sidewalks impossible, they cut through traffic, run lights and drive the wrong way down the street when it suits them, but we haven't seen an accident yet.

Hoi An, From The Other Side

I had a really great experience today; while searching online for places to photograph in Hoi An, Vietnam I ran across Etienne Bossot who runs a 'photo tour' out of the area. I decided to head out with him and two other photographers to tour some more 'remote areas', in the tourist sense that is. Etienne picked us up at 5 a.m. and we hopped on a boat and headed to a small fishing village across the river from Hoi An. We arrived shortly after sun rise and began exploring the quiet community.













Etienne has been taking people out around the area for about 7 months and has found some great places to explore. We were the only 'foreigners' in the area and he has built a strong repertoire with the locals so we were able get some very intimate shots.









He took us through the town and into some of the local establishments, including a small, but rather popular fish sauce factory.





We also wandered through some of the fields capturing the women at work, planting vegetables and harvesting rice.















It was a great day and definitely an experience I wouldn't have gotten without Etienne (thanks!).