vietnam
Hanoi
November 23, 2014
We are in Hanoi! What a grueling trip! It probably would have been better if I had not had a severe reaction to Trazadone. Because I never sleep on planes and someone told me that it was a "natural" sleeping pill, I took it eight hours into our 16-hour flight. Twenty minutes after taking it, I told Robin I wasn't feeling well at all. She said that within a few seconds of me saying that, my eyes rolled back in my head and she was slapping my face and I wasn't responding. She was taking my pulse and it was super fast and my breathing was rapid and shallow. I don't remember any of this. What I do remember after I "came to" was spending the next hour sweating gallons and having wave after wave of nausea. Both hands then went completely numb and then I started throwing up. In the barf bag in the window seat of Korean airlines. How lovely. Robin dragged me to the bathroom where I continued to hug the plane toilet and throw up. How disgusting is that! I didn't care. I found out later from a doctor that you NEVER try a medication for the first time while on an airplane. Lesson learned! I just have to gut it out on these long plane flights naturally. I'm also convinced that having shorter plane flights with more layovers and longer travel time is not a bad thing either.
We are in Hanoi! What a grueling trip! It probably would have been better if I had not had a severe reaction to Trazadone. Because I never sleep on planes and someone told me that it was a "natural" sleeping pill, I took it eight hours into our 16-hour flight. Twenty minutes after taking it, I told Robin I wasn't feeling well at all. She said that within a few seconds of me saying that, my eyes rolled back in my head and she was slapping my face and I wasn't responding. She was taking my pulse and it was super fast and my breathing was rapid and shallow. I don't remember any of this. What I do remember after I "came to" was spending the next hour sweating gallons and having wave after wave of nausea. Both hands then went completely numb and then I started throwing up. In the barf bag in the window seat of Korean airlines. How lovely. Robin dragged me to the bathroom where I continued to hug the plane toilet and throw up. How disgusting is that! I didn't care. I found out later from a doctor that you NEVER try a medication for the first time while on an airplane. Lesson learned! I just have to gut it out on these long plane flights naturally. I'm also convinced that having shorter plane flights with more layovers and longer travel time is not a bad thing either.
The JW Marriott hotel is gorgeous!
Breakfast consisted of everything from sushi to noodles to bread pudding to bacon. They must have had fifteen different buffet lines and stations.
Not quite sure what to put on my pancakes?
View from the hotel shows the poor air quality.
We took a taxi to the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology. Rated number 2 on TripAdvisor. It was just okay; it was a museum about the 54 ethnicities in Vietnam. We then sat in a park across the street and watched the kids play. We named one little girl "monkey girl" because she would zip line over and over again in her little flowered dress with her legs high in the air in her multicolored underpants. Anton also played soccer with two boys. One was from Japan and he spoke English, and the other was from Spain and Anton could speak Spanish with him.
So it was a quieter day, mostly to recover from jet lag. Tomorrow we have an all day city tour booked. But our first impressions of Hanoi were: steamy humid weather even though this is their coolest season, millions of motorbikes that are always honking, "pho" everywhere, and very poor air quality.
November 24, 2014
We went on our all day city tour today. Thank God we didn't try to do this on our own! It was worth the entire $83 per person that it cost. The streets are CRAZY. There must be 10 million motorbikes in this city of 7 million people. One area is so densely populated that there are 30,000 people that live in one square kilometer (about 1/3 of a mile). Trying to cross the street is extremely difficult. People run red lights when they feel like it or drive on the wrong side of the road. (Men also pee wherever they want on the side of the road.) So to have your own driver is absolutely necessary.
We went on our all day city tour today. Thank God we didn't try to do this on our own! It was worth the entire $83 per person that it cost. The streets are CRAZY. There must be 10 million motorbikes in this city of 7 million people. One area is so densely populated that there are 30,000 people that live in one square kilometer (about 1/3 of a mile). Trying to cross the street is extremely difficult. People run red lights when they feel like it or drive on the wrong side of the road. (Men also pee wherever they want on the side of the road.) So to have your own driver is absolutely necessary.
Our first stop was the presidential palace and the memorial to Ho Chi Minh. The grounds and gardens were beautiful and quiet and peaceful (except for the many other tourists). There are unusual-looking plants and trees here, which makes Robin very happy. After that we went to an old university that only men could go to. (It's been making us a little mad. Everything is about men here. At the hotel, they defer to Kenny when addressing us, or asking any questions. I can even hand them money and they give MY change to my brother!) At the university, there were thousands of kids there taking some kind of graduation and other school pictures. Our tour guide was always prattling on about something... We never knew what because we couldn't understand most of what he said. Language has certainly been an issue. Although most of them do speak English, it's not an English we understand!
After the university we went to the "Hanoi Hilton" which housed the American POW's. They had pictures of John McCain and other pilots that were shot down. The prison had been around for a hundred years housing political prisoners, so only a small amount of the museum was dedicated to the American War (what they call it here). Funny how their versions were very different than what we learned in the US. But we were the ones in THEIR country!
The tour included lunch at a traditional Vietnamese restaurant. It was pretty good, except Anton hated it. We had nine courses of vegetarian food.
The Gateway into the Old Quarter.
Our afternoon was when things got really crazy. It was time to go to the Old Quarter. It's a hectic scene, with motorbikes honking constantly, people trying to dart across the street, cars whizzing within centimeters from you, vendors trying to get you into their stalls, gross and nasty smells, garbage piled on the curb, and electrical wires resembling large bird's nest barely above your head. Every time we had to cross the street we had to stay with our guide so that we didn't get hit. We had to wait at the entrance to the Old Quarters for our rickshaws to arrive (a chair on the front of a bicycle). So as the man is pedaling behind you, you really get to be front and center in the chaos of the street. By far the absolute worst problem here though is the air quality. Supposedly Hanoi has the worst air quality in the world outside of China and India. In addition to diesel, the main problem is the lead dust in the air. We have all felt somewhat nauseous since arriving, and we definitely think it is the pollution.
Halong Bay and Bai Tu Long Bay
November 25, 2014
What an amazing day! We were up at 5:30 to grab a taxi to Indochina junk tours to catch our shuttle to Halong Bay. Another drive through the crazy honking insane streets of Hanoi. Immediately upon exiting the cab, Kenny got hit by a motorbike that was coming from the wrong direction. Hard. He says he's okay, but I think he might be sore tomorrow. Our taxi driver screamed at the two girls on the motorbike that hit him. While we were in the small crowded stall that was the gathering place to wait for the shuttle, there were two more accidents out front. Thankfully no one can get going fast enough to do much damage.
What an amazing day! We were up at 5:30 to grab a taxi to Indochina junk tours to catch our shuttle to Halong Bay. Another drive through the crazy honking insane streets of Hanoi. Immediately upon exiting the cab, Kenny got hit by a motorbike that was coming from the wrong direction. Hard. He says he's okay, but I think he might be sore tomorrow. Our taxi driver screamed at the two girls on the motorbike that hit him. While we were in the small crowded stall that was the gathering place to wait for the shuttle, there were two more accidents out front. Thankfully no one can get going fast enough to do much damage.
We then went on our four-hour shuttle ride to the bay to catch the boat. Even though it's only the equivalent of about 110 miles, you can never drive faster than 30-40 miles per hour. Too many slow buses, motorbikes, large trucks and tourist shuttles.
But when we finally got on our junk (a boat) and started cruising out of the bay -- UNBELIEVABLE! Anton said it perfectly...it's Machu Picchu in water. The 2000 limestone formations tower hundreds of feet out of the water in many unusual shapes and sizes. In every direction you think there is one more photo you must take, and you end up with 200 pictures in no time. The formations are quiet and looming and large, hovering over you like magnificent gentle giants. It feels so sacred and magical, that all 20 of us on the boat were mostly silent on the 2-hour cruise out. We have people on the boat from South Africa, Canada, Germany, France, Britain, Scotland, Israel, and the US.
When we finally anchored, we all sat out on the deck for a nine-course lunch. Robin and I are doing vegetarian, so it's hard to come up with enough variety. We had everything from sautéed Cho Ca (not sure what it is?) to yucca fries. On about Course 6, you've had enough. We then cruised to what they call the "parking" area of Bai Tu Bay, where the boats stop for the evening.
We kayaked at dusk for an hour. This is the first time I've ever kayaked; it's pretty tiring. I'd rather just drift than paddle. The water is warm though, and something about silently paddling among those massive gentle giants made it very special. After that we had another 9-course meal, and Robin and I both quit again at about course 6 and could not take another bite. I immediately went straight to bed.
November 26, 2014
Another gorgeous day in the Gulf of Tonkin! Slept pretty well considering the bed is hard as a rock. We had a one-course breakfast (thank God) before leaving to kayak for 2 hours. Although we are glad we went, it is hard for us. Every other kayak has a man in it, and we are clearly the oldest people here. There may be a few others in their late 40's, but many are in their 20-30's. We did manage to mostly keep up with the group, but were often the ones lagging behind. There was one other couple that was always lagging behind with us... a cute young Jewish couple on their honeymoon, and athleticism wasn't their strong point. (They have to cook their own food each day in the ship's kitchen because they eat kosher. They said this fascinates the whole crew, because they've never seen it before). We kayaked into an underwater cave, and also to an aquamarine lagoon that was smooth as glass. The lagoon had a narrow opening to get in, and it was like bumper cars with all the kayaks crashing to get in. That part was a lot of fun, thankfully the kayaks are quite resilient. So my only experience kayaking so far has been in... Vietnam.
Another gorgeous day in the Gulf of Tonkin! Slept pretty well considering the bed is hard as a rock. We had a one-course breakfast (thank God) before leaving to kayak for 2 hours. Although we are glad we went, it is hard for us. Every other kayak has a man in it, and we are clearly the oldest people here. There may be a few others in their late 40's, but many are in their 20-30's. We did manage to mostly keep up with the group, but were often the ones lagging behind. There was one other couple that was always lagging behind with us... a cute young Jewish couple on their honeymoon, and athleticism wasn't their strong point. (They have to cook their own food each day in the ship's kitchen because they eat kosher. They said this fascinates the whole crew, because they've never seen it before). We kayaked into an underwater cave, and also to an aquamarine lagoon that was smooth as glass. The lagoon had a narrow opening to get in, and it was like bumper cars with all the kayaks crashing to get in. That part was a lot of fun, thankfully the kayaks are quite resilient. So my only experience kayaking so far has been in... Vietnam.
After another 9-course lunch, we went to a rock formation that had a beach.
Some people kayaked, while others just walked on the beach.
We saw an awesome sunset, and Anton played with the two dogs that lived on the narrow strip of land.
We didn't know it at the time, but this same "island" (they call them islands, but they are just vertical walls of rock with some vegetation) housed the cave where we would have dinner that night. We had to climb a hundred steps to get into the cave, but it really was incredible inside.
The crew had candles everywhere, and lights set up under the long table.
All the food was cooked on a grill in another chamber in the cave. While the others were having lobster, prawns, etc., we had our hundredth carrot. I know we ordered vegetarian, but nine courses of vegetables for four meals is healthier than I eat all together for a month! Plus we'd been having some vegetables coated and fried and others sautéed in a sauce, but nine courses of grilled vegetables was a bit much. Although dinner in the cave was really special and memorable, there is something even more special just sitting in the open-air deck on the boat.
November 27, 2014
We woke up to a cloudy morning with stormy skies that made it even more beautiful. We had an early one-course breakfast and then strapped up our usual life jackets to board the tender (type of flat boat with long benches).
We went to a colorful fishing village; these people often spend their entire lives in these little floating houses. One of my favorite photos ever...!
We saw a school where the children attend grades 1-8, and after that they don't go. (Up until 2008, they were completely unschooled. However, the government has now required them to go to these schools to at least learn to read and write).
It started pouring while we were there, and it was very loud on the tin roof of the tiny schoolhouse (no school today for some reason).
The rain even made the rock formations more beautiful, because instead of just plain white limestone the wet spots were now black. After the rain quit, we went to an oyster floating village where they tried to sell us pearls. Even though they were probably quite cheap, I don't think anyone bought anything.
So this 2-night 3-day stay on the Dragon Pearl junk was just awesome! I'm glad we did two nights and went away from the touristy Halong Bay and not just one night. Although we haven't arrived in Cambodia yet, I have a feeling this will be the highlight of the trip. We've had no Internet connection, no TV, no electronics whatsoever. Not having email or Internet makes me feel like I am missing something... like I keep forgetting something I'm supposed to be doing. It's hard to believe that at one time we used to go on family trips and not have any of these things. But it has been so peaceful and spiritual out on the water that I'm extremely glad that we did this tour on the junk boat.
Hanoi
November 28, 2014
Back in Hanoi after our long trip through the countryside. They made us stop at some cheesy puppet show, but at least the rural area we drove through was quite pretty. Now we are just getting ready for our travel day to Siem Reap. We stayed at the Hilton last night that was closer to the Old Quarter. The hotel was nice, but the view out the window was rather interesting.
We've had a couple taxi incidents. The first one was dinner last night. Hardly any of the taxi drivers speak English, so the hotel usually has to tell them where we are going. We read on TripAdvisor that the restaurant "Purple Cherry" was really good, so we asked the girl at the front desk at the Hilton to get us a taxi. (I had seen that it was only 1.5 miles on Google maps, but walking ten blocks is an ordeal every time you cross a street. No one obeys the traffic signals; in fact, they have t-shirts that have a picture of a traffic signal and next to the green it says "go", next to the yellow it says "go", and next to the red is says "can still go". So even though you have a walk signal, it's still a free-for-all. So we definitely don't want to walk the ten blocks to the restaurant). However, the taxi driver kept going and going, and it's obvious we'd been at least five miles. Kenny tried to point behind us and say "Purple Cherry" but the driver doesn't understand. He finally stops at the Bobby Chen restaurant. We tell him "no, not here," and it's completely lost in translation. The only thing we know to do is to tell him that we want to go back to a Sheraton we saw on the way in. We then caught another taxi from there after pretending to be a hotel guest and having the front desk write down the exact address. Thankfully the mistake was only $7.
The restaurant was nice. It was on the 8th floor of an extremely windy rooftop terrace, but the food was good. Anytime you can get ABOVE the constant blaring horns of Hanoi, it's a restful place.
Robin and I ventured out on our own this morning to find a pharmacy so that she could get some sinus medication. The pharmacy sign and name is nothing close to anything we recognize, so the only way to find one is look in the storefronts. You have to step over people cutting raw chicken, toothless men drinking, children playing in filth, women washing dishes in what looks like laundry baskets, skinny roosters pecking at the dirt... all while dodging the people who decide to drive their motorbikes on the sidewalk. Robin did not want to walk over the gaggle of skinny chickens and was willing to do the four-lane death dash to avoid them but I vetoed that idea. When we finally found a pharmacy, no one speaks English. They just hand you a pen and paper and you write it down (Cetirizine). Magically a box of Zyrtec appears. We misunderstood and thought it was 80,000 dong per pill, and ended up with four boxes. We showed them one box only, and they gave us our money back for the other three. So it was about $3 US dollars ($14 in the states).
The second taxi incident happened when the trunk popped open with all our luggage in it on the way to the airport. The driver had to get out in the middle of the lane in the middle of a bridge. After trying to slam it shut a few times before it finally closed, he had to run back to the drivers seat while cars veered by within inches of him blaring their horns all the way. Although Kenny says the traffic is way more chaotic in India, it is probably the most chaotic traffic I've ever been in.
Goodbye Vietnam...! It's been fun!
Back in Hanoi after our long trip through the countryside. They made us stop at some cheesy puppet show, but at least the rural area we drove through was quite pretty. Now we are just getting ready for our travel day to Siem Reap. We stayed at the Hilton last night that was closer to the Old Quarter. The hotel was nice, but the view out the window was rather interesting.
We've had a couple taxi incidents. The first one was dinner last night. Hardly any of the taxi drivers speak English, so the hotel usually has to tell them where we are going. We read on TripAdvisor that the restaurant "Purple Cherry" was really good, so we asked the girl at the front desk at the Hilton to get us a taxi. (I had seen that it was only 1.5 miles on Google maps, but walking ten blocks is an ordeal every time you cross a street. No one obeys the traffic signals; in fact, they have t-shirts that have a picture of a traffic signal and next to the green it says "go", next to the yellow it says "go", and next to the red is says "can still go". So even though you have a walk signal, it's still a free-for-all. So we definitely don't want to walk the ten blocks to the restaurant). However, the taxi driver kept going and going, and it's obvious we'd been at least five miles. Kenny tried to point behind us and say "Purple Cherry" but the driver doesn't understand. He finally stops at the Bobby Chen restaurant. We tell him "no, not here," and it's completely lost in translation. The only thing we know to do is to tell him that we want to go back to a Sheraton we saw on the way in. We then caught another taxi from there after pretending to be a hotel guest and having the front desk write down the exact address. Thankfully the mistake was only $7.
The restaurant was nice. It was on the 8th floor of an extremely windy rooftop terrace, but the food was good. Anytime you can get ABOVE the constant blaring horns of Hanoi, it's a restful place.
Robin and I ventured out on our own this morning to find a pharmacy so that she could get some sinus medication. The pharmacy sign and name is nothing close to anything we recognize, so the only way to find one is look in the storefronts. You have to step over people cutting raw chicken, toothless men drinking, children playing in filth, women washing dishes in what looks like laundry baskets, skinny roosters pecking at the dirt... all while dodging the people who decide to drive their motorbikes on the sidewalk. Robin did not want to walk over the gaggle of skinny chickens and was willing to do the four-lane death dash to avoid them but I vetoed that idea. When we finally found a pharmacy, no one speaks English. They just hand you a pen and paper and you write it down (Cetirizine). Magically a box of Zyrtec appears. We misunderstood and thought it was 80,000 dong per pill, and ended up with four boxes. We showed them one box only, and they gave us our money back for the other three. So it was about $3 US dollars ($14 in the states).
The second taxi incident happened when the trunk popped open with all our luggage in it on the way to the airport. The driver had to get out in the middle of the lane in the middle of a bridge. After trying to slam it shut a few times before it finally closed, he had to run back to the drivers seat while cars veered by within inches of him blaring their horns all the way. Although Kenny says the traffic is way more chaotic in India, it is probably the most chaotic traffic I've ever been in.
Goodbye Vietnam...! It's been fun!
