down by the bay

the next portion of our trip was one of the most highly anticipated - our excursion to halong bay. we set the trip up just a day before, with our super friendly hanoi hotel staff. the price difference between the mid-range and top-range boats wasn't much and we'd heard the food was substantially better, so we opted for a slightly nicer package. and so, the next morning we found ourselves in a van with a bunch of other tourists, who i assume were all, like us, trying to determine what in the world our guide was talking about. something about bridges? where he went to school? who can say.

on board

the trip (after he stopped talking) was pleasant and largely uneventful - except for a stop at a horrific shopping warehouse. you know, the kind where they have faux greek goddess statues and giant paintings with gold flecked backgrounds and everything's eight times what you'd actually pay for it. the kind of place they must go to decorate every single cruise ship. and we were left to peruse for forty-five minutes. i think i left with a postcard and a pack of gum. anyway - after a few more miles of rice paddies we arrived at the bay, where we boarded the tender (weird name) to our junk (even weirder name). our little boat was quite cute. we had a cozy little stateroom (isn't it weird that there's a 'stateroom' on a 'junk'? such a disparity) and, upstairs, a shared dining room/common area and, above that a deck with some lounge chairs.

it was about lunch time by then so we all sat down at the table and prepared to tuck in. this seems like a good time to introduce our boatmates, as it was when we actually met them as well. there was the russian couple.. the male part of which looked exactly like a butch-er ron weasley - his face was as red as his hair - who generally kept his arm firmly around his girlfriend (probably because she did seem rather out of his league. but really, on this boat there was not a lot of competition). then we had a fun chinese couple from singapore - he liked to make jokes then sometimes repeat them in case the whole table hadn't heard; she tempered him and told interesting anecdotes, following every phrase with 'yeah..'. then two portuguese men who we assumed were either together or a very odd father-son duo. and finally a german couple who looked like they walked out of a nursery rhyme - he was so slight he could have been walter mitty (glasses, mustache and all) if it weren't for the thick, almost stereotypical german accent. she, on the other hand, was a rather zoftig women with beady little eyes who, unfortunately didn't speak much english. it was a fun bunch.

green waters

oh right, lunch. it was delicious! the plates just kept coming and coming from the kitchen. pear papaya salad, shrimp cocktail, stuffed crabs (di-vine!), fried fish, spring rolls, french fries, bak choi, tofu, chicken. i'm pretty sure we cleaned every plate - all 37 of them. then we had a few hours to lazy about and enjoy the views of the bay which were, by the way, beautiful. 'ha long' evidently means dragon, which makes perfect sense when you see the cliffs (karsts, apparently) rising up out of the water like scales. it wasn't as clear as it might have been in the summer and the water was probably not as bright. but even in the misty weather it was dramatic.

surprise! it's a cave

after an hour or two we arrived at our first stop: surprising cave. there are generally two cave options for day-trippers: this one and dragon cave. we had heard the former was better so we set out to see the surprise for ourselves. i guess the first surprise was that we had to go up a bunch of steps to get there. actually we're still not entirely sure what the real surprise was. perhaps that it was so big inside? (some might say.. cavernous..) at any rate it was well lit with greens and oranges and we dutifully wound our way around the path inside.

once back on the boat we had a few minutes before our next little excursion: kayaking! neither mom nor i had ever kayaked before. we seemed to get the hang of it pretty quickly. and what a beautiful setting! we made our way out away from the boats and paddled along the sides of the cliffs. the water was so clear and bright turquoise from down there. about 45 minutes later we were back on our boat, a little wetter and sorer but certainly better for it. we popped upstairs to the deck to chat for a few minutes before dinner and watch the sun go down.

one fish, two fish, shellfish, squiggly thing

the europeans were discussing the economy - the portuguese and german views were predictably different. then down for dinner - more of the same from lunch. different dishes, all delicious, that just kept coming out of the kitchen. we lingered over the empty plates discussing this and that and all retired to our little rooms stuffed and satisfied.

mobile market

the next morning it was up for a markedly less exciting breakfast and to enjoy the view. a quick stop to the local fish market was pretty much all that was on the agenda for the day. that itself was fairly interesting though. who knew you could eat so much of what's in the water? or that some of it was so weird looking.. and striped. nearby were a few houses with clothes hanging outside.. pretty normal-looking except surrounding them was just water and giant cliffs. there were a few floating markets too. some with candy bars and essentials, others with fruits in just about every color you could imagine.

from there it was just another hour or two on the boat, enjoying the last of the view. by noon we had reached the harbor and we had one last meal on the boat (one wonders why we couldn't have done this farther from the rather ugly shore) before heading out. we stopped yet again at a giant warehouse - a nearly identical but different warehouse with the exact same merchandise - in the middle of our drive and as we reached hanoi were dropped off at our respective hotels.

every meal a new dish

my mother and i had one more night and half day in hanoi. the night we spent, of course, eating. after thailand, vietnam had some of our favorite food of the trip. this time we went out in search of com ga, seasoned rice with shredded chicken and lemon. the place we found it, like many of the others i had found recommendations for, happened to be within walking distance of our hotel, which was very handy. this particular walk also provided us with a promenade along the night market (yes, one in every city it seems) - one of the less exciting ones though, mostly cosmetics and fake leather bags.

the next day we went to see the last places we had on our list before our flight. this meant several taxi rides and a little bit of rushing. mom had really wanted to see the vietnam museum of ethnology, which i was all for. the inside had a few displays which looked interesting, but we breezed through it in favor of the traditional houses out back. the size of this section was really quite impressive. there were all sorts of houses - one something like an iriquois longhouse, another with a roof as tall as the stilts on which it was built (which was, uh, pretty tall). each was well signed, with good information on the region it was from and the people who would live in them, along with - of course - who sponsored its construction (a lot from germany).

we wrapped up there a little early, missing out on the last few abodes. but we wanted to be sure to get back to hoa lo (aka the hanoi hilton) before it closed for lunch. the prison was initially used by the french to hold vietnamese prisoners. the vast majority of the space was devoted to that. and it did seem that the conditions there were pretty grim. i mean, there was a guillotine. but when you get to the two rooms devoted to the american soldiers it was all sunshine and christmas parties. the videos and text actually proclaimed that soldiers enjoyed the "best living conditions". no mention of the physical torture or mentally crippling isolation. sigh. but then, i suppose it is still a communist country. (did i mention they had blocked facebook? not quite the same, just another aspect) it had us both a little annoyed, but luckily this came at the end of our journey in vietnam so didn't sour our perceptions too much.

from there it was off to cambodia! our last country of the four

hectic hanoi

welcome to hanoi and the lake

another flight (apparently ground transportation in most place is slow/unreliable at best) and we found ourselves in yet another country. from hanoi we got our new currency, booked a taxi and were on our way toward the old city. it was evening, the sun was down and lights were just coming on throughout the city. my first impression was that most of the buildings were quite narrow and about 3-5 stories. our hotel was no exception. just a stone's throw from the lake in the old town, the location was ideal and the staff couldn't be friendlier. (also, only time i've ever seen complimentary items - besides water - in a minibar. oxymoron?)

we stepped out to get some dinner, anxious for vietnamese cuisine. we figured we'd save pho for lunch the following day and instead tried to find some other local specialties. that we did - just around the corner we found a place that had a few of the dishes we'd been hoping to try. bun cha and bun bo nam bo (beef/pork respectively with noodles), both were delicious and left us excited about upcoming days of vietnamese food.

yellow yellow

the next morning we set out to see the city, stopping first, luckily, at the water puppet theater to buy tickets. those things get snapped up fast! we had to opt for the 9.30 show and we barely even got tickets for that. we continued on, walking towards the center of the old town, passing all kinds of shops bursting with shoes, backpacks and stationery. looking up, we'd generally see a tangle of wires, sometimes with birdcages hanging from them. sidewalks that were covered with little food stalls (all with tiny plastic tables and chairs - think playskool size) and motorbikes! motorbikes are everywhere. they seem to be buzzing all over the city, and the drivers are particularly aggressive. it almost seems as though they're trying to run you down. we continued walking, along the busy streets past slightly crumbling yellow buildings (i swear, they were all yellow) with rusting iron terraces or peeling green shutters.

quintessential lunch

we made it to the opera house - also yellow - and stopped along the way at a park with a grimy fountain where no fewer than six brides were having their wedding portraits taken. we wondered at this and grimaced as we saw the white dresses dragging onto the street. we continued on, walking in search of pho. we walked farther than expected, since my mom was hoping for a place that didn't have tiny tables. we eventually found one, luckily just before the lunch hour started wrapping up. quite literally - the tables and chairs were stacked and put away just after we left. the pho, of course, was delicious but we missed the chilli sauce we usually get with it the states.

from there we hopped a taxi to the ho chi minh mausoleum. man. i'm not sure i've ever seen such an ugly monument. it's not even worth including a picture of - google it if you must. we just missed its opening hours, though i'm not sure i really want to see the man's remains anyway. from there we.. well, we got lost for a while. but eventually we found our way to the one-pillar pagoda. it was rather small - sort of like a treehouse - but impressive in that it was built in the mid-11th century. today it looks rather unremarkable, a stocky pillar coming out of a smallish koi pond surrounded by tourists. from there we went towards the temple of literature. but not before being verbally assaulted by a disgruntled and very vulgar rickshaw driver. lovely. that, combined with the long walk around 3/4 of the temple of literature's giant walls left us rather cranky. i'm not sure what i had expected, but this wasn't quite it. it was very.. chinese. to be expected, since they built it. everything was very red and gold. by the time we had made it through we were ready for a rest. another taxi back to the hotel and it was naptime. (or in my case, watch bad tv movies until dinnertime.)

around 7 we ventured out again, this time in search of a fish. we walked down a few streets and made it to the place. hard to miss, since it had no fewer than three neon signs boasting its name: cha ca la vong (also the name of the fish). this particular one has apparently appeared on lists of foods to eat before you die. i suppose because it's only available in a particular region of vietnam. despite its fame the place was rather quiet downstairs and the owner and other employees all seemed to pounce on us. we literally had ingredients being delivered to our table before we had finished making our drink orders (side note: passion fruit smoothie, delicious). the preparation of the fish contributes the experience - various herbs and oils are thrown into a pan and then the fish is cooked right at your table. it was tough to get a decent picture with all the steam pouring up. the fish itself was pretty good. could i have happily died without eating it? probably. but still a worthwhile experience.

fire and water

from there we walked to the water puppet theater. once inside we realized why the shows fill up so quickly. the place is tiny! and cramped. i can't imagine how anyone taller would have managed - and i'm only 5'5". the show itself was quite good. a nice mix of traditional music (the musicians and singers were on stage to the left of the water) and skits that revealed a bit about aspects of life in rural vietnam - fishing, water buffalo, rice paddies. we never did quite figure out the logistics of the puppeteering.. sometimes the puppets stayed close to the curtain at back, but other times they came out quite far into the water... still not sure where the puppeteers were. they ended, naturally, with a dragon and fire to make it a big finish.

it was a long day in hanoi.. one that seemed all the more hectic because of motorbikes constantly whipping by, giant intersections with difficult traffic patterns, and sidewalks filled with all sorts of obstacles - some stationary, others less so.