Hello Hanoi

(Beware, a novel follows...)

I have really enjoyed Vietnam so far! We arrived last Thursday, the 6th, in Hanoi, a city in Northern Vietnam (possibly the capital?). We had heard before that all of Hanoi was flooded! In the newspaper, the day before we left, there were photos of people in water up to their knees, pushing their motorbikes on makeshift rafts. Lindsay seemed quite concerned about this, but I thought it would be quite the story if we had to kayak to our guesthouse.

We boarding our cheap Air Asia flight to Hanoi which promptly arrived an hour late. I had read much about scams in Hanoi before leaving and was prepared for the worst. Especially getting from the airport to the guesthouse. The taxi drivers at the airport were not as aggresive as in Thailand though, which was nice. And were just bartering with themselves while we looked around forthe shuttle bus ("Ladies! Hanoi $25! .... Ok, $20!!..... I give you special price, $15!!"). They gradually went down to $10, so we took that as the shuttle wanted to charge us $5 each.

I had reserved a room online with a guesthouse, but heard it was hard to get to the guesthouse you want. Becasue one guesthouse will get quite popular, another guesthouse will open and steal their name. And the taxis will get some tea money if they take you to the rip off guesthouse. There was also confusion given that our guesthouse, written as "Manh Dung" was actually pronounced "Mang Zung" as 'd's and maybe even 'g's are pronounced as 'z' in the north.

So we arrived to a 'Mang Dung' which seemed suspicious to me so I started asking the right questions which made the man there know I was on to him. After talking to the taxi driver for 10 minutes, we were taken to the correct guesthouse. But told we had to wait for a few minutes. I tried to find out what rooms were available and at what price. I was told to wait and grew suspicious again. When we were finally given attention (it was around 11pm at this time) we were told they were full but we could stay at their friend's hotel for $17 a night,while I had reserved a room in the $6-10 range at their place. I said no way and took off down the street looking for more guesthouses. Found one right across the lane for $8 a night. Bargain!

The people there were super nice and relaxed. The girl said "you go to sleep now, you must be tired, you check in tomorrow. But are you hungry? My grandfather will show you what is open now". Very sweet family.

So took a while to find a bed that first night, but all worked out in the end and stayed on budget.

The next few days were spent exploring Hanoi, a crazy little city that I quite like. It is very atmospheric. Women everywhere in conical hats selling goods off of those long poles they put on their shoulders, with baskets on each side. I couldn't believe they were actually wearing conical hats, in the city, and not just for tourists to take photos of! The city is centered around a pretty lake with lots of people relaxing and talking. Along the streets everywhere are men and women sitting on these miniature stools, a few feet off the pavement, sipping tea, coffee or beer.

The city is a mess of little alleys each loaded with traffic, of which 90% is motorbikes. Crossing the street is an adventure, which scared Lindsay a lot but I was more prepared after living in Bangkok. There are rarely stop lights and even then, many keep on driving, incessantly honking their horns at everything and everyone. So to cross, you just wait for a tiny break and start walking as many motorbikes swerve around you.

The first day there I had the first of a series of amazing meals. The food here has been so incredible so far. That night we had a noodle dish called "bun bo" which was beef with rice noodles, bean sprouts, greens, freshly fried garlic, and tons of peanuts in a little bit of broth. Sooo good!! Other great food I had there was a sandwich with donair meat (the kind on that big slab that they cut off of) with vegetables and garlic sauce in a great crusty bun. There is so much great french bread here. They sell loaves and treats right off the street for dirt cheap. I had another nice noodle soup dish with wontons and crispy wonton. And we had fresh 'roll your own' spring rolls with carmelized beef covered in sesame seeds, noodles, vegetables, herbs, and pineapple with a sweet spicy sauce and grilled eggplant with garlic. SO incredible!!!!!

The first day we did a bit of sight seeing, but most was closed when we got there (bad timing). We took a cyclo (a bike with a seat for two at the front) to Ho Chi Minh's Masoluem. There was a huge stone arch and large grassy area that was quite nice. But the museum was closed, so we didn't get to see Uncle Ho.

That night we saw a water puppet show. The puppets jump around on the water, controlled by the puppet masters behind a screen. And there was a band playing accompanying traditional music. There were some very interesting instruments. One had all these different strings that make these strange whining sounds. It was cool. Would make good background music for a Quentin Tarantino film. The puppet show was quite different. Perhaps there was a story to it, but it was all in Vietnamese.

The next night and day Lindsay was sick from the hot sauce she slathered on her bun bo. So I explored the city some more on my own. I bought some neat old communist propaganda prints, which I now need to lug around. But they are cool, I think silkscreened on handmade paper. That night I found a 'bia hoi' corner. Bia hoi is a local beer that is made without preservatives, so the keg must be drank that day. On each corner of the intersections are these little bars set up where a little old lady taps the keg for the (mostly) foreigner crowd who all sit on the miniature stools and watch the craziness of Hanoi pass by. All for the low low cost of 3000 dong a glass (20 cents!!). What a great city.

The next day I had a really annoying head cold. So I was sneezing and coughing all day. We visited a silk village on the outskirts of town, but it was quite desolate. Mostly just a row of silk shops and lots of garbage. Spent the rest of the day relaxing, trying to get rid of my cold and eating 20 mini oranges that are so sweet they taste like candy.

The next day we had a tour booked to Ha Long Bay for two days, one night. Ha Long bay is filled with these limestone cliffs and tiny jagged islands everywhere. Quite like Krabi/Phi Phi in Thailand, but much more of them. The scenery was gorgeous and the water was so nice and calm. But I think the best part was staying on the boat. They are these old wooden boats called "junks". It was three levels, with the cabins on the bottom, dining area in the middle and open top for sunbathing. The food was ok, the first lunch was the best, then the food seemed to get progressively worse (dinner was a strange combination of fried tofu, morning glory, fish nuggets, french fries and a whole fish). Other people thought the rooms were too small, but it was practially the size of our room in hanoi so we didn't mind!


The bay was beautiful, but I didn't really like the structure of the tour. I wanted more to sunbath, read and swim. But instead we got on the boat, ate lunch and then visited a bunch of caves. The caves were cool, but I think I'm a bit caved out. When that was all finished it was around 4 pm and the sun was starting to go down. Then they wanted us to kayak, but we were in a shady bay. So I was already starting to get cold and didn't feel like getting on the water. Lindsay wasn't interested either so we drank beer and played card games on this floating restaurant.

The next morning we had to wake up at 8am, eat breakfast and then we got back to shore at 11am! So not at all a two day trip, which was kind of disappointing. It was also quite cold in the night and morning, so I wasn't up to swimming quite yet (the coldness of the trip had just begun though!!!!). But it was still nice to see the bay.

The day that that trip finished we decided to head up to Sapa, North of Hanoi, a small town in the highest mountains of Vietnam. We booked tickets for the sleeper train leaving at 10 pm. I was expecting a sleeper train much like the ones in Thailand (which I thoroughly enjoy taking). But the Thailand trains were much more luxiourous than these ones! In the berth was six beds, three high from top to bottom! And of course, being cheap we bought tickets for the top bed. In Thailand, the beds are first nice big seats with tables that are then made into beds. In Vietnam there are only beds, so you can only lay down or stand in the tiny hallway (and there was no dining cart!). The top beds were soo tiny, I could barely sit up then I would bang my head on the edge everytime I sat down. Lindsay and I also shared our berth with four business men in full suits who got on to the train took off their shoes, then laid down in their beds and went to sleep. It was pretty funny. We stood in the hallway and talked to some guys that were on our Ha Long bay tour and another one from switzerland.

We arrived by train to Lao Cai, the border town with China, then took a 45 minute mini van ride to Sapa. And wow, it was so goregous even from that first drive! Huge moutains everywhere. We got to Sapa and it was soooooooo cold!!! Everyone was in ski gear!! It felt just like a ski resort actually. Cute little town with little alleys perched up on a high hill, very crisp mountain air. I was dying though, I was so cold. I sat in the hotel room under these super thick blankets and was still shivering convusively. I can only really handle Bangkok temperatures now!!! I had to pull out the shoes that I thankfully brought, my jeans and 3 layers of shirts, then I needed to buy another sweater there.

We shared a room with the swiss guy for $6 a night! Great deal. We opted for a room without a fireplace, but then needed to get a heater later when it got colder. The town has tons of bakeries and french food, so we had lots of nice treats (pastries, french bread, cake). In the town there are tons of minority people walking around everywhere (trying to sell you things unfortunately). But its' really cool because each group wears different ethnic clothes. Most of them were wearing these thick blue-black fabrics that they hand embroider with all these little patterns. Many different layers of fabric with jackets, skirts and leg warmers. Also lots of different jewelry. It was really neat to see.

I was checking my email on a computer in the guesthouse lobby and one of the minority women came up asking me for help. First I was confused what she wanted then she gave me a paper with her email and password on it. So I checked her email for her and read an email to her that she had received. She was so happy I helped her out. Then she gave me 1000 dong! I said no, I didn't want it and kept trying to put it back in her hand but she fled out the door. Most of them could speak quite good english though. Each tribe speaks a different language and only some can speak vietnamese.

We then booked a two day trek with an overnight in a homestay in one of the minority villages. It was such a great trip! The first day was a lot of hiking, probably 5 or 6 hours. Lindsay had a hard time, but I really enjoyed it. Our guide was a minority girl about 22 years old. She was really cool, lots of sass. She kept telling us "you too slowly!!!!".

The mountains are full of little villages and these minority people. Since it is so hilly, they make their rice paddies right out of the mountain. So many hills have paddies cut into them, creating a series of different steps up the hill, making really neat designs everywhere. There are tons of farm animals everywhere. Buffalos, cows, pigs, ducks all wandering around the paddies and throughout the villages. We hiked along the paddies, though bamboo forest and up and down many hills. It was a lot of work!

That night we stayed in a village with a few other homestays for tourists. But there were not too many tourists there, which was nice. At our homestay there were 7 others there. We actually ran into the two guys from the train and the ha long bay tour again as they were staying with us! Funny how often this happens when travelling. The homestay was a stilt house made out of bamboo, I think. We all sleeped in one big room with huge blankets and mosquito nets.

They were all minority women that were leading the treks and these women worked so hard! As soon as we stopped hiking and collapsed at the homestay, they started cooking our next meals. Our friends said that in the morning, their guide had woken up at 4 am, hiked 2 km to her house. Woke up her family, cooked breakfast, sent her kids to school and then hiked back before they had even woken. Most of them looked so much older than their age too! This one women had few teeth, no hair (they shave it when they are married), tons of wrinkles and she was only 30.

The food they cooked us was so amazing and so much of it. The first dinner was a huge assortment of meats, vegetables and spring rolls. In the morning they made crepes with bananas, honey, lemon and chocolate sauce.

Near the homestay there were also these neat hot springs. They looked like hot tubs, carved out of huge blocks of stone and placed right next to a huge river. They were not super hot, but were still very relaxing after our long trek.

The next day was sooo much more difficult than the first time. Mostly becasue we were so tired and sore! And the men were hungover from the 1.5 litres of 'happy water' they drank (which tasted a lot like the 'Sapa wine' we bought the previous night, which tasted a lot like vodka). So it was a very difficult day. But we went through more of the villages and saw a very basic traditional house. It was sooo hot that day as well. Which made for hard trekking, but a lot nicer than freezing Sapa. I was so hot and sweaty, we went to a waterfall and I wanted to dive in so bad. Everyone else thought I was crazy becasue it was so cold. But I still did it and felt so amazing afterwards!

The trek back was on a bad route too, mostly a construction site where all the dirt was dug up. It was also all uphill. But we did make it, even though Lindsay was tempted to get a motorbike a few times. But all in all it was a really amazing trip. Lots of exercise, beautiful scenery and really cool people.

That night we decided to head back to Lao Cai and take the train back to Hanoi. We showed up late and could only get sleeper tickets on the 5:45 train, so we arrived in Hanoi this morning at 4:30 am. Not nice! This train was even worse and I had even less space on the top bunk. I shared my berth with a bunch of young vietnamesse people that got a real kick out of me. I was so exhausted and only wanted to sleep. Lindsay and I found some seats for a while to play cards but then needed to give up the seats. I was laying in bed, with the ceiling a foot from my face trying to read my book. And the vietnamesse in my berth kept trying to get me to drink their beer and whiskey and kept asking me questions. They turned off the lights so I couldn't read then gave me these fruits. And I was trying to sleep and they kept saying "laaaandsayyyy!!! You sleep??? Bia!!! Drink bia!!.... Canada? How about whiskey???.. Cigarette..???" It was pretty funny. Everything I said put them into fits of giggles.

So we arrived back in Hanoi this morning, got a guesthouse for the day so we could sleep a few more hours. We are now about to book our open bus tour. These are bus trips with about 5/6 stops at different cities along the way to Saigon. They even have sleeper buses! Hopefully better than the sleeper train though. But some of the trips are very long. Tonight we will be heading to Hue, which is a 14 hour bus ride! I'm thinking about buying some sleeping pills, especially since I can't read on the bus!