We have been in Vietnam for a week now. A very exciting week. We arrived early in the morning after 3 grueling flights from Las Vegas to Los Angeles, Los Angeles to Hong Kong and Hong Kong to Hanoi taking about 17 hours (although we lost count due to the time zone changes and date line change). We had arranged ahead for "fast tracking" our visa applications in Hanoi since we knew we would be tired when we arrived. This worked well. We also had pre-arranged transport to our hotel which also was appreciated.
Once we stepped outside the airport and into the hotel transfer car, we knew we weren't in Kansas anymore. The traffic on the roads was incredible...not just quantity of vehicles (which was a lot), ranging from bicycles, scooters, cars, buses and trucks, but also driving patterns. While Vietnamese theoretically drive on the right side of the road, it's really just a guideline. Cars come at you from the left as well as the right and sometimes across your path. Stoplights also are merely suggestions. People go through them willy-nilly. They drive on the side walks and really anywhere else the driver imagines he can fit. Oh my! The rule on passing seems to be that you can pass anywhere (right or left), anytime...but the biggest vehicle wins. This was all intellectually amusing until we got out of the cab and tried to cross the street to our hotel. The flow of vehicles (mostly motor cycles) never stopped. We just waded through hoping we made it. Gradually we learned to follow local pedestrians (tightly), using them for shields. It's like wading across a river watching the water (in this case, cars, motorcycles, etc) flow around you. They anticipate you will keep moving, so you cannot stop once you start across. Such fun! Unfortunately you have to walk in the streets much of the time because the sidewalks are motorcycle parking lots, hence impassable.
Our hotel (The Eclipse Legend Hotel) was tiny--18 rooms on 6 floors. The room was lovely, overlooking the street. We stayed 3 nights and were served a (better than U.S.A.) breakfast each morning. The staff was exceptionally attentive and helpful. The tourist industry here knows the meaning of service and customer satisfaction.
Each day in Hanoi, we explored a bit of the city. We visited the Women's Museum, the History Museum (focused on the series of wars against invaders over the last 150 years), Hoan Kiem Lake, and various streets in the Old Quarters that were named for the main product sold on that street: flower street, silk street, herb street, tin street, dress shop street, etc. At the end of each day, we usually found ourselves at Beer Corner, where we would sit on miniature chairs on the sidewalk and drink local beer with other tourists. I'm having to give up temporarily on Corona, but the local Bia Hoi is a nice substitute. It is brewed daily and costs about 50 cents a mug. Roger took a student-escorted tour of the Mausoleum, housing Ho Chi Minh's body, (closed that day), the University (called the Temple of Literature) and to a typical 1970s Hanoi home. Roger especially enjoyed talking with the students who were trying to improve their English. Of course, as one knows, the students didn't get much of a chance to speak with Roger. He spent a lot of time explaining how things worked in the States. Our meals included an excellent noodle soup and fried spring roll feast, a duck dinner (outstanding), and one very inexpensive noodle soup meal (we are unsure of what the meat was...there was some suspicion that it was dog??) and finally a great Vietnamese fish dinner at Quan An Ngon (well patronized by Vietnamese).
After our 3 nights in Hanoi, we took a 4 hour bus ride to the coast and boarded a tourist boat for 2 nights on HaLong Bay. HaLong Bay, UNESCO World Heritage Site, contains the many limestone islands we typically see in Asian paintings. There were thousands of them. Almost all have sheer cliffs covered with tropical foliage, birds and monkeys. It was delightful. As we motored across the bay, we were served an elegant gourmet meal (we are so focused on food, aren't we?) of soup, fish dish, spring rolls. This was one example of many meals on board that were fantastic. We arrived at one of the island and walked to a cave and then to a lake on the island with no outlet to the sea. We moved on to another area where we took kayaks or rowboats through an arch into a lagoon. Once we had entered the lagoon area, we were surprised by a group of langors (near extinction) hanging from the cliffs and trees. They seemed unimpressed with our visit, but we definitely were pleased to see them. We returned to the ship for a cooking demonstration, dinner and movie. While this sounds like an expensive experience, it really was not. You get great value for your dollar in Vietnam. More to follow.
Days 2 and 3
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