Reflections on Vietnam - and Thailand

Somewhere I heard or read that going to Bangkok from Hanoi was returning to civilization.  Ha!  Now THAT'S saying something.  It is, however, true.  In Bangkok, even the taxi drivers want to engage you in conversation, no matter how poor their English and while it's big and there's lots os traffic, people wait their turn and wait at traffic lights for what seems like forever.  There is a civility to the chaos.  Hanoi drivers, whether they drive motorcycles, cars, bicycles or rickshaws pay no attention to lines, lights or direction but somehow miraculously flow with relatively few accidents.  Don't know how they do it.  Taxis in Thailand have some statue of Buddha with offerings - almost without fail.  My taxi to the Hanoi airport had a bottle of Hypnotic Poison by Dior on his dash!
There are many, many karaoke bars in Hanoi, so I'm guessing they like karaoke.  And the flower market goes on for blocks with women on motorcycles and bicycles loading up to sell in other places.
Speaking of motorcycles, I have seen over 100 flats of eggs, 20+ cartons of bottled water, 30 chickens on the back of motorcycles in Hanoi.  The best has to be the woman yesterday who had a new ornately carved coffee table and end tables.  I have heard amazing things from fellow travelers about areas in Vietnam I didn't visit.  Maybe a second trip is warranted?  Right now I'm happy to be back in Bangkok at Lamphu Treehouse.  Went to Khaosan Road tonight for one last time.  The walk goes past Wat Bowannwet which takes up the whole block and is beautiful and peaceful.  Khaosan Road is a different matter.  There is music and lots of people and street carts with delicious food and lights and did I say people?  I saw three insect carts tonight and stopped to see what this girl had on her tray - - - barbecued scorpions!  She said, "They real good!"  I bet!  It is my last night here and, while I will miss it, I'm happy to be on my way home.  Yay!

Hanoi Style Hotel - My Room

Squirrel Coffee!

Karsts, karsts, karsts!

The Yellow Kayak Was Mine

As I've said, Hanoi is charming in its chaos and insanity and I really like it.  But the four-hour trip between Hanoi and Halong Bay is a different story.  First, some observations:
Why is there a bread vendor every fifty feet over a bridge and nowhere else?  Wouldn't it be better to spread out more?  After the bridge, there is no one anywhere selling bread!
Just about every square foot that isn't buildings is used to grow things.  I saw amazing gardens, even on highway medial stripes with beans, squashes, greens, etc.  The other part is rice, rice, rice.
The rivers are, for the most part, mosquito infested mud holes.  I believe this is because most of the water is diverted to a very efficient aqueduct system for the rice paddies.
Any other mud puddle is filled with white ducks - most likely dinner.
The road is being widened to handle Halong Bay traffic, but in so doing many people lost their yards, their living rooms or their entire home.  The bulldozer made a straight shot.  Because of this, the towns along the way are very dusty and laundry is a yellowish orange color like the soil.  There are also many factories and some mining of the surrounding hills.  This appears to be for the brick foundries (I counted 3) and possibly for the marble as many carvings are for sale in this area.
All in all, it's not pretty, except for the rice paddies.  But then you get to Halong Bay.  I had intended to rest since I got up early, but it's impossible to stop looking.  It is more beautiful than I imagined.  The boat is also amazing with beautiful teak walls, floor and gorgeous Asian influenced decorations - probably the nicest room I've had this trip.    There are some very nice people on board from Australia, Norway, England, Canada, Lithuania and New York.  It's a great group and I am really enjoying myself.  Peter and Berend are from Amsterdam but have lived in Bangkok for seven years and own a boutique hotel in Luang Prabang.  The food is totally over the top with a seven course meal for lunch including grilled prawns.  Delicious!  We kayaked through some karsts this afternoon and it was lovely, spotting and hearing the elusive hornbills that I've been searching.  They must have known I wasn't carrying my good camera!  What an amazing, incredible place!  Wish you all could see it. Yesterday was Women's Day in Vietnam so the crew, including captain, engineer, chefs sang to us and all the women received long-stemmed red roses and the most beautiful heart shaped box with a shell necklace after our nine course dinner of seafood.  Then there was cake for the newlyweds and the couple celebrating their 25th anniversary.  It is, as always, the dinner that is awkward.  I have ended up with a couple from New York (Sue and Michael) who are traveling with their daughter, Sandy.  It's a great situation for me and hopefully they don't mind me at their table.  The newlyweds, Katy and Tim are so nice.  He's a reporter for the BBC.  There are several Australians including Belinda and Brandon who "looked after" me on the kayak yesterday.  The Aussies all like to party.  Woke up this morning to birds.  The water is like glass and now one of the staff is singing in Vietnamese.  Lovely!
I have returned from Halong Bay and, after 3 kayak trips, amazing food, dinner in a cave, great people and total luxury and relaxation, I am very happy I went.  Tonight in Hanoi with someone trying to coerce me into drinking snakes blood (really), tomorrow in Bangkok, then home.  I'm ready.

Ho Chi Minh, Women and Water Puppets

Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum 

A Typical Pho Restaurant 

These poor aching feet have walked all over Hanoi today, got lost a few times and almost run over by two motorcycles simultaneously.  Have you ever played Frogger?  If you have, you'll understand what it's like to cross the street in Hanoi.  Seriously!  I visited the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum but no one is allowed inside go see his preserved body currently.  However, it is the quietest place in the city with no traffic allowed in the vicinity, so worth hanging out for awhile.  I also visited the Women's History Museum which was really interesting and dealt with every aspect of Vietnamese, as well as the mountain tribe women and their traditions regarding marriage, childbirth, clothing and fashion, as well as their roles as farmers and even their political roles during the liberation and especially in what we refer to as the Vietnam War (see propaganda poster).  The museum was beautiful and I spent quite a long time there.  I also saw the Heroes Memorial and walked past the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Romanian Embassy, stopping to buy a ticket for the water puppet show tonight.  I would have preferred to go this afternoon, but every show through next week is sold out.  It better be worth the $2.50 I paid!  Ha!  Update: The water Puppets were awesome!  How do they do that?
Off to Halong Bay in the morning and looking forward to it.  Although I like this crazy city, it will be nice to get away from the chaos, insanity and racket that is Hanoi.  Bye for now.
Following are all from the museum.  The 3 girls took the hats off the models behind them for the photo.

Good Morning Vietnam!

View from my Hotel Room

After waking at 4:30 to catch my 7:00 flight to Hanoi, I arrived tired and a bit dazed.  After spending the day here, I'm even more dazed!  What a place!  Walking down the street in the old quarter is a challenge to say the least.  Because the streets are narrow, not too many autos attempt to drive here, but bicycle rickshaws and motorcycles make up for that.  The sidewalk is used as a motorcycle parking lot, so no walking there.  Everyone beeps their horn continuously.  So, it's noisy, dirty and fascinating.  I've never been anywhere like it.  The "restaurants" are the little hole in the wall places where you sit down on tiny plastic stools and they bring you bowls of noodles with each place serving their own version.  They have bia hoi which is beer made daily and which sells out quickly.  The "temples" I've visited are very different from the Buddhist wats of Thailand with conquerors, horses and creatures as the object of worship and offerings of boxes of cookies and cakes, canned sodas and plates of fruit and money.   And, speaking of money, the currency here is the Vietnamese Dong and $5 US is the equivalent of 100,000 Dong.  Talk about being confusing!  I met an Australian woman who had made herself a chart.  Speaking of meeting people . . .

Today while waiting at customs to be cleared into Vietnam, I met a 25 year old retired jockey from England who was going to law school after his travels.  He said he won 137 races before gaining weight and retiring.  Also met Wilm and Willa from Holland.  We talked by the lake and she said the cleverest thing regarding islanders who seem to live less frantic lives than we do, and I quote, "We have the clocks; they have the time."  I've never heard that expression before.  I also met Jade from South Africa but moving to Canada after her trip alone to Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos and with her fiance to Thailand - a pre-honeymoon.  We had noodles together.  My Hotel, Hanoi Style, is just that - it's decorated in traditional old style with ornately carved furniture.  It's very nice and in the architectural style that's prevalent here - tall (5-6 stories) skinny buildings with a European influence.  So, after all the discussions about whether people like or dislike Vietnam, I'm going to have to side with the "likes".  You have to experience it for yourself.

The Lake

Hotel Street

Gateway to the Old Quarter 

Ao Nang - A bit More To Tell

Despite what was quite possibly the worst snorkeling trip ever, I had a great day!  The "Four Island" trip is, it turns out, a big seller where they cram you on a crowded longtail, feed you mediocre food and take you to one place to snorkel where there are many other people in the water from other trips and 

they have fed the fish so they swarm around as soon as you are in the water.  What's the fun in that? The rest of the islands are very beautiful but also crowded.  The reason for the day being good is my new friend Alexandra (pictured).  She is from Germany and a doctor and we just hit it off.  Good thing her English is better than my German.  After the boat trip, I showered and went to get a massage.  It was at sunset in the open air next to the beach with a gentle breeze - heaven!  Then met Alex for dinner at Jeanette, which caters to Europeans and it was there that I learned about Toast Skagen (pictured) which I think is Swedish.  It is described on the menu as Prawn, mayonnaise and dill salad on fried buttered bread.  Boy, is it good!  It was a lovely evening finished with watching lanterns and fireworks over the ocean.  Alex is off to Koh Lanta in the morning and I'm on my way to Vietnam via Bangkok, but I now have another invitation to Germany!  Yay!

Ao Nang and Krabi

Ao Nang Port

Sitting in the shade at the last fisherman restaurant on incredibly beautiful Ao Nang beach listening to the constant hum of longtail boats shuttling people back and forth to Railey island, a place with cliffs, caves and a favorite among rock climbers.  There is a photo attached and, if you photo shop the guy with the tats and the green plastic glove on his head, you have paradise!  You can pretty much buy anything from delicious barbecued corn on the cob to beach toys, flutes, sarongs, cold drinks and I even saw someone selling Japanese kimonos!  No one pressures - they just seem to be there if you require a Japanese kimono.  I believe Lonely Planet says, "You're not breaking any ground here."  All these tourists are here for a reason.  It's gotta be one of the most beautiful beaches around.  As Robert and Annette McPherson, some new friends from Quebec said, "It's great people watching."  It is also great ocean, scenery and monkey watching!

So, backtracking a bit to Koh Yao Noi departure.  Three of us left on the speedboat to Ao Nang at the same time.  The other two were Nina and Dagmar from the black forest in Germany - don't recall the name of the town.  Through conversation we discovered that we are leaving for our respective homes on the same day and staying at the same hotel the night before our departures.  We're planning to meet for breakfast and share a taxi to the airport.
                                                                    KRABI WALKING STREET 

Yesterday was my first experience with a sorng-taa-ou in this area.  I was going to Krabi to the weekend walking street which is a market that happens on weekends.  A sorng-taa-ou is a small pickup truck with a semi covered bed and a bench seat on each side facing each other.  Since they charge very little, they really pack you in, with people hanging off the back sometimes (usually locals).  The market was fun with lots of music and Thai dancing girls and good food and people, people, people. So today - Some of you already know about my toe, but for those who don't, I was bitten or pricked (no jokes) by something on Koh Surin while walking barefoot.  After ten days I went to Dr. Somboon Polyclinic and while I could go on and on about how fascinating it was, suffice to say he gave me antibiotics, needles for when whatever is in there decides to work its way out and then we talked about getting old and marriage and charged me about $20 for everything.  He was a very interesting man who said I had no limitations and could do what I wanted so I took another sorng-taa-ou to Krabi, paid a little extra and they dropped me at the tiger cave temple (Wat Tham Seua) which I'm so glad I did.  It's a truly magical and sacred place that takes 1,237 stairs to get to.  These aren't regular even stairs either.  Some aren't bad but many are a foot or more high and very narrow.  Nevertheless, I did it and it was so worth it.  I was more than a little scared/nervous having read about these bands of marauding monkeys that attack people and steal things - in some cases hurting them in the process.  While I did see monkeys, I kept my pace and did NOT stop to take any pictures.  Scary!  When I got to the top, I lit incense in front of the giant Buddha and, since I had matches and none of the lighters supplied were working, I ended up helping 3 young guys from Japan to light their incense.  It was very beautiful up there, but I had told Likai, the motorcycle driver, that I'd return by six.  I have never sweated going DOWN stairs before, but this is the exception.  However, when I got to the bottom, there was Likai with a bottle of cold water calling my name.  So, I hopped on the back of his motorcycle, put on a rather poorly fitting helmet and held on for dear life!  The sun was setting and the sky turned orange while Likai and I, along with hundreds of other motorcycles wove in and out of traffic until he safely dropped me off to catch the song-taa-ou back to Ao Nang.  Tomorrow is a four island snorkeling trip with lunch, fruit and water for under $15.  Then heading North to Vietnam and excited but sorry to leave Thailand.  I really like it here. 

The corn vendor - yummy!

Views from the Top

Some shots of Ao Nang Beach