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| Taken from the bridge to a temple, one of our first stops in Hanoi |
More than 12 hours after leaving Sydney, our Thai Airways flight touched down in the Hanoi airport. After we cleared immigration and customs in Hanoi, which was very easy and fast but probably would have taken a while if we didn't get visas in advance of our trip, we took a cab ride to our hotel, the Sheraton Hanoi. The Sheraton is about a 30 minute cab ride from the airport and a 10-15 minute cab ride from the main downtown area of Hanoi. If we didn't have a ton of Starwood points to use, we would have stayed in a more central location. But we do have a lot of Starwood points, hence our obsession with Sheratons and Westins throughout our trip.
We spent two days in Hanoi before we made our way to Ha Long Bay and then another 20 hours in Hanoi after our trip to Ha Long Bay. In that time I feel we saw a lot of the city and had enough time for relaxation.
Highlights of our time in Hanoi include: Ha Lao Prision, otherwise known as the Hanoi Hilton where American POWs were held during the Vietnam War; a cooking class at the
Hanoi Cooking Centre where we made Vietnamese dished including a carmelized pork dish, a banana flower salad and a sticky rice dessert; and visiting the Ho Chi Minh Mosoleum and the obligatory museum. Ho Chi Minh may not have been a friend of the West, but the more we read about him the more we were intrigued by his ideas and his vision for Vietnam.
We also checked out a water puppet show, and while I don't think we need to see the show again, it was a unique cultural experience. Apparently every other tourist in Hanoi got the memo on the water puppet show; the audience was akin to a United Nations Economic Forum with guests from Japan, China, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain and Italy surrounding us. As at many points on our trip, we seemed to be the only Americans. It's not a bad thing just not what we're used to.
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| At Ha Lao Prison, aka the Hanoi Hilton where John McCain was held during the war |
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| At the Temple of Literature |
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| Another view of the Temple of Literature |
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| Inside a temple. Offerings included everything from lychee to packaged candy |
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| Working hard for our dinner |
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| Z preparing to eat an unhatched baby duck |
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| One Pillar Pagoda near Ho Chi Minh Museum and Mosoleum |
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| In the Old Quarter in Hanoi |
Hanoi was hot and sticky, so it was a relief to be in cooler Ha Long Bay for a few days. We stayed on a boat run by
Indochina Sails for two nights while we sailed around the bay and visited sites of interest around the bay. We stopped by Ti-Top Island and Surprise Cave. We took a bamboo boat through a fishing village where 130 families live. On our final day in the bay, we paddled kayaks around the bay and stopped for a swim, managing to avoid the jelly fish. For all couples out there, a kayak in the real test of a relationship. If kayak zig-zagging were a sport, we'd be Olympians, perhaps even medalists.
Ha Long Bay is undoubtedly one of the highlights of our trip. The topography and geology are unique and beautiful and our time on the boat was very relaxing and peaceful. It's easy to see why the bay is a
World Heritage site. We ate well, slept well and met some interesting people from around the world.
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| On our boat in Ha Long Bay |
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| Inside our cabin on the boat |
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| Sunset over Ha Long Bay |
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| Limestone formations in the bay |
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| Fishing village |
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| Inside Surprise Cave in Ha Long Bay |
After Ha Long Bay and Hanoi, we made our way to the middle part of the country to the third largest city in Vietnam, Da Nang. Da Nang itself doesn't have much to offer in the way of tourism. A couple of museums, surprisingly and decidedly better than those we encountered in Hanoi, a pleasant river walkway and some five-star hotels. But it does have an airport and a train station, so it fits into many Vietnam travel itineraries.
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| The cathedral in Da Nang reminded us of Latin America |
We stayed in Da Nang for five nights and four days. Spending two of those days outside of Da Nang and the portion of the third day in the nearby Marble Mountains. On our first full day, we went to Hoi An, a charming historical town and
UNESCO World Heritage site, about 30 minutes south of Da Nang. We would have enjoyed the temples, old homes and market in Hoi An more if temperatures would have been about 10 degrees cooler with 20 percent less humidity. As it was, we couldn't walk far without downing a liter of water and searching for some shade.
Z and I rarely drink sodas at home, however, we found that a cold Coca Cola at hot and humid temperatures is an incredibly refreshing experience; it's emotional, that's how good it was. So drinking Coke became a daily occurrance we both looked forward to. Keep in mind that unlike the high fructose corn syrup Coke in the U.S., Vietnam and most other countries use real sugar. It's so much tastier and healthier, relatively speaking.
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| A temple in Hoi An. A sweet Vietnamese man insisted on taking our photo and showing us around. |
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| Another temple |
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| The market at Hoi An |
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| As sunset came, Hoi An became ablaze with lanterns |
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| The Japanese Bridge in the background |
We spent another day in the Da Nang area diving at the Cham Islands, off the coast near Hoi An in the South China Sea. Our boat trip to and from the islands was less than efficient, but the diving was great. The water much warmer than at the Great Barrier Reef and the variety of fish and coral was surprising. We're starting to get the hang of diving and, aside from the early mornings and occasional seasickness that accompanies the sport, we really enjoy it. Well, Z loves it. E likes certain aspects of it. If you average the preferences of the two of us, it's safe to say we enjoy it.
The Marble Mountains were unexpectedly interesting. An unsuspecting community of caves and temples on the backside of the limestone mountain range about 15 minutes south of Da Nang. Despite the heat and bats, we wandered through the caves and temples, in wonder of the amount of physical labor it must have taken to construct the altars and places of worship.
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| At the base of the Marble Mountains |
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| Large Buddha in one of the caves |
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| Main temple at the Marble Mountains |
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| View from the top of the Marble Mountains |
By the time our five days in Da Nang were over, we were ready to leave and start the next phase of our journey, touring caves in and near the Phong Nhg Kee-Bang National Park, the
third UNESCO World Heritage site in Vietnam.
The closest town to the caves is Dong Hoi, a city of just over 100,000 people. The easiest and least expensive way to get to Dong Hoi from Da Nang is via train. So that's what we did. Our train arrived about an hour late, not unusual in Vietnam. After the initial discomfort and inefficiency of boarding the train was over, we settled into our "air conditioned" train car and ate a late lunch.
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| Outside of the train station in Da Nang |
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| Lunch on the train |
The Phong Nha Kee-Bang National Park area is not yet a developed tourism area, especially for non-Vietnamese. Some farmstays have cropped up in the area, including
Phong Nha Farmstay. We wanted to stay here, but by the time we got around to booking our travel, they were booked. They were kind enough to let us book our cave tours through them and arrange for transit from and to Dong Hoi where we stayed.
If tourism at the cave area is up-and-coming, tourism in Dong Hoi is, well, maybe coming at some point in the future. We didn't want to pay $150 per night to stay at the one or two resorts in the area, so we settled on
Sunshine Hotel for about $15 per night. Our room was clean, aside from the one cockroach Z saw in the ceiling. But we were awoken most nights to either horns honking on the main road or Vietnamese people yelling loudly down the hall.
The beginning of our first day in Dong Hoi was miserable. The hotel didn't offer food or coffee, so we wandered down the road in search of both. We found a coffee stand first and between the four or five kids running the coffee bar, they correctly translated that we wanted iced coffee. After coffee we were starving and walked back in the same direction to try to find food. We found a place for pho, typically a breakfast food in Vietnam. The small roadside restaurant looked and smelled a little sketchy and I was torn between the now intense hunger in my stomach--no dinner the night before, small lunch on the train (I didn't really eat that sandwich.)--and the illness that had been plaguing me over the past few days. I caved and ate the pho, minus much of the broth. Z and I split a Coke.
After breakfast we found the beach and our day began to improve. We were the only people on the beach until about four in the afternoon when the locals began to stop by after work. We spent the afternoon reading and drinking lemon-flavored iced tea under an umbrella.
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| The beach at Dong Hoi |
Later in the day we stopped by one of the resorts for drinks and dinner, feasting on a seafood hot pot. The hot pot is akin to the oil portion of fondue. You put the ingredients in a pot of boiling water and take them out as they are cooked. You can season the seafood, meat, veggies and noodles with fresh herbs and spices to your liking. It makes for a delicious, if laborious, meal.
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| Hot pot meal in Dong Hoi |
The next day we were up early for our trek to the farmstay and our first of two cave tours. After a quick breakfast and Vietnamese coffee at the farmstay we were off to Paradise Cave. What we hadn't planned on was a transfer to the cave via motorbike. If I had known this was going to be our method of transit, I may not have agreed to go.
We had ridden in plenty of cabs and minibuses during our stay in Vietnam and were well aware of the driving culture. It's insane. Very much like India, for anyone who has been there. Organized chaos is the rule of the road. Cars, trucks, buses and motorbikes all honk for attention when they need to get somewhere. In rural areas, cows, water buffalo and oxen join the bedlam. The thought of getting on a motorbike and putting my life in the hands of a stranger who spoke no English was petrifying.
By this point in the trip, I had left my comfortzone so many times that I chalked this up as another "experience" I wouldn't be able to have in the Western world. Z and I donned our helmets and jumped on the back of the bikes to ride 40 kilometers to the cave.
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| Ready to ride! |
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| View from the bike |
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| On the road |
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| Holding on for dear life! |
When we arrived at the cave, our local guide and porter met us with camouflage uniforms and water for our hike. Z and I were the only participants in the tour that day. We found some irony in the Vietnamese giving the Americans camouflage uniforms to wear in the jungle and caves.
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| Ready for our caving adventure |
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| Going down into the cave with our guide |
The first kilometer of the cave was full of tourists. Our guide, Dong, mentioned that during the dry season more Westerns visit the caves. But we were in the dry season and we were two of the only non-Vietnamese tourists we saw.
Once we left the crowds, the real fun began. We climbed down a ladder of just a few steps the floor of the cave, left the wooden boardwalk where other tourists were walking and began our adventure. Shortly after we turned the corner, we entered blackness. Without our torches, we couldn't see anything. In fact, we tried turning off our lights a few hundred meters into the cave in a flat wide area that minimized the risk of bumping into anything.
As we continued our journey we saw beautiful stalactites and stalagmites. The first part of the cave was bat-free and even the uninhabited portion of the cave had just a few, very small bats. That's the kind of cave I can get used to.
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| Buddha Ziv |
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| Stalactites in the cave |
About two kilometers into our hike, we hopped on a boat to carry us down a small underwater river. The boat ride was short, but given the depth of the water and the thick mud before and after the river, I can see why we didn't hike through it.
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| Boat in the cave |
The halfway point of our hike was 3.5 kilometers. Here we rested near a waterfall and an opening in the cave. The sunlight and fresh air were a welcome relief. We both got headaches from the lack of oxygen in the cave. We dined on beef, bok choy and rice. For dessert we split a banana before we fell asleep next to the rush of the waterfall.
The return trip was much faster and seemed easier, too. The most treacherous portions of the hike came after the boat ride on the way in and before the boatride on the way out. So by the time we reached the boat, we knew the worst was behind us.
We had high expectations for our second day of caving. We knew this tour would be different, hiking through rivers and fields to get to the cave and swimming through an underground river in a the cave. Before the hike, I hadn't full internalized what it meant to swim in a river in a cave in Vietnam. And really it wasn't a big deal until I got water in my mouth and my imagination started to run wild. "What's in this water? What animals are in this river? I'm going to eat bat guano and catch something awful! This current is going to suck me under and I'm going to drown in this river." And on it went.
The bats in the cave flying about a foot from my face, the rain on the second half our our hike, and the 90 + minute minibus ride each way to the cave over rural roads didn't help either. Had I been in better spirits this cave adventure might have been fun, too, but even then I doubt it would have topped our cave adventure from the day before.
After our fourth night at the Sunshine Hotel, we headed to the airport to fly to Bangkok via Ho Chi Minh City. The Dong Hoi airport has four flights per week to Ho Chi Minh City and four flights per week to Hanoi. If our flight to HCM had been on time and the weather had cooperated in HCM, we would have left the airport for a few hours to go into the city. As it was, we camped out at another airport lounge before saying a fond farewell to Vietnam and boarding our plane to Bangkok.
