Back to Hanoi for the Weekend and Visiting "All Things Ho Chi" with a Little Communism on the Side!

Awaking from our (late) night in the hotel on Cat Ba Island, the remaining time on our cruise had run short, so we were immediately shuttled back to the harbor at Halong Bay and put back on buses bound for Hanoi. Since we felt like we hadn't enough time to see Hanoi before we left for our cruise, we wanted to spend some time traveling around the city and seeing the numerous Ho Chi Minh memorials/sights/museums. Plus, it was a great chance to get our bodies good and tired for a night traveling on a sleeper bus to Hue the following day (what an experience . . . ).

Once back in Hanoi, we found a reasonably priced hotel in the center of town via the place we made a currency exchange. We got ourselves showered and ready for dinner, and since it was a Friday night, we wanted to go for a walk to see what the scene was like in Hanoi. Before we could do that, however, we needed to sort out our sleeping arrangements in the hotel room.

Originally, we had reserved a room for the three of us (obviously requiring three beds or two beds with one bed big enough for two). What we reserved was not what we got because when we got up to our room after being dropped off, we found a room with two single beds and no more rooms available . . .

. . . this little situation gives me a chance to explain something else I've noticed during our travels and accommodations in Viet Nam: There seems to always be four or five things promised about a trip, tour, hotel, or even a meal, but when it finally arrives, we typically get 3/4 or 4/5 of the promised features--be it a missing plate at dinner, no WiFi, stopping for a meal on a 14 hour bus ride to not stop at all. We were soon explained by a hotel receptionist in Hoi An that "Maybe discount but not qualitEE!" Well put.

Anyway, once we sorted out our sleeping arrangements in order for three grown guys to sleep somewhat comfortably (since they never delivered another bed, we pulled apart one bed with Ruben on the mattress and me on the box spring), we headed for the big lake in downtown Hanoi that was near our hotel--a recommendation from our friendly hotel concierge who was called in once we arrived to help the hotel manager with the English-Vietnamese translation and the sleeping situation.

As we walked around the lake for quite a while among hundreds of other Vietnamese people out doing the same thing, we stumbled upon a gated pagoda out on the lake and decided it was a great place for a few pictures of the lake with lights glowing and arranged much like the ones from the cave in Halong Bay.

After getting the attention of at least 50 Vietnamese people during our attempts to get a mid-air karate move picture, we decided it was time to keep moving and seek out a place to grab a drink where we could get a good view of downtown Hanoi. From the lake, we saw that there were, in fact, such places above hotels around the lake, so we found the entrance and went right up! The views of the lake, the pagoda, and the rest of Hanoi provided nice views as we sipped our over-priced cocktails.

We stayed for a few drinks but were more interested in going back to our hotel and catching up on our blogs, Skyping with our family, and watching the Lakers-Celtics NBA playoff game. So we headed back for the night and talked about going to the Ho Chi Minh tomb, his museum, and other attractions the next day before getting on our sleeper bus for Hue.

. . .

Waking up Saturday morning in Hanoi after a night's sleep on a box-spring under an air conditioner that had been set on a timer that would turn off every 20 minutes and wasn't able to be turned off probably wasn't the most pleasant morning yet, but I had an okay night's sleep between the resets Elliott kept doing in order get the air conditioner back on. Reading that sentence reminds me of the no-good-horrible-very-bad-day book because it was a lot like that.

Poor sleep that night really didn't matter much because we had a big day planned ahead of us, and we wanted to get a bit tired for our sleeper bus bound for Hue later that evening. With somewhat of a sluggish start, we got ourselves a cab and headed to see all things Ho Chi (Minh). It was a great chance to get back into the groove of being tourists and trying to figure out what things were when we approached them. I think it's important to point out that despite having access to a Lonely Planet guidebook, we didn't use it much at all. Instead, we would read about the city we just left on a bus and discover all of the things we didn't do or eat. Whatever! It was fun to stumble our way through Hanoi that day, and here are some of the pictorial highlights of what we saw:

At the start of our day, we had some tasty breakfast and I was able to capture some footage of the typical sights during a morning in Hanoi. I say typical because motorbikes are everywhere, but this particular morning, I saw something very Vietnam: a motorbike with a load on the back that seems quite impossible to manage. Truth be told, it is completely common to put next to anything on the back of a motorbike!

He made it look easy, but it was just styrofoam containers . . .

After that interesting start, we made our way via taxi to the Ho Chi Minh memorial plaza and started the long walk from one end to the other--passing the presidential palace, the place where Ho Chi Minh is embalmed (we missed going through this because we slept in), the One Pillar Pagoda, and finally, the Ho Chi Minh Memorial Museum. Here are some of the highlights:

Some of the items and displays were clearly marked (like his shoes and his bike), but others (like the above pyramid or the sculpture) were just so obscure. We would walk up to some of them and just have no idea what its ties to Uncle Ho were or why they were in the museum. Oh well, it was such a neat memorial museum with LOADS of artifacts and writings and gifts. Just incredible and only ONE DOLLAR!

Since we still had a few hours left before we needed to be back at our hotel to catch the sleeper bus to Hue, we kept walking and found a statue of Lenin across the street from a war museum.

Being at the war museum gave me a rather conflicting and troubling feeling--especially once we made it towards the back and saw wreckage from US planes and tanks. It was pretty gnarly to say the least, but some of the things inside provided a good depiction of certain instances of the Vietnam War and the French occupation as well as other wars in Viet Nam's history.

After getting our fill of museums, memorials, statues, and pagodas, we figured it was time to get back and find some dinner before boarding our the sleeper bus (one hellacious ride) to Hue. As we walked back, we found some Obama paraphernalia, but I am not quite sure the translation on it is very complementary--maybe someone could help (Juan?).

If only the sign was as clear as the menu for our dinner that night, it would be much easier to read what it said!

After eating a very filling "bit tet" (baquette sandwich--thanks for the heads up Rachie!), we were finally on our bus and headed for a 14 hour ride through the night to arrive in Hue around 8am the next morning. It was an experience to put it nicely, and in reality, it wasn't the worst sleeper bus experience we would have in Viet Nam!

Next up on The Dandygram: Barely a Day in Hue, Leaving Elliott Behind, and New Friends from Argentina!

Halong Bay Cruise, Part 3!

To those reading, the Dandygrams during my trip in Viet Nam are SO back-logged because often, we stayed at places that didn't have internet (WiFi), or we'll leave our room and lose power when we take the key--thus losing my charge on my MacBook. So I just want to clarify that I am going to get the good stuff out to you in due time, and hopefully, I can get the rest of my Viet Nam trip logged before I leave. As for Part 3 of our Halong Bay cruise (and then going back to Hanoi, visiting Hue, Hoi An, and Nha Trang), I need to definitely catch you up on our adventures and happenings before my memory starts to fade, or worse, I forget places, names, people, etc. So for this post, I'll finish what happened on the last leg of our cruise, and then I'll get to the other cities in the next Dandygram!

. . .

After sleeping the night on our boat, we awoke to Hai (our tour guide) knocking on the door around 7:30am--informing us to come upstairs for breakfast and to get ready for Cat Ba Island. We finished a filling breakfast rather quickly and got right back to our room to start packing up.

It was actually a very nice room, and the beds were comfortable, but I can't say much of the shower because I didn't use it. Well, I thought I would sneak in a shower the day before, but about two minutes into lathering up, Hai came to our door to say that we'd be going swimming/kayaking, so it was a failed attempt.

After packing up our things, we said our goodbyes to Hai and the Vietnamese family (they didn't book a night at Cat Ba and Hai was only assigned to the boat tours). Then, at a completely random place in the middle of the bay, we transferred to another boat bound for Cat Ba Island. Once aboard, we met other backpackers who had booked a night on Cat Ba and started chatting them up, sharing stories, and getting/giving advice.

Since in Viet Nam, I've met two kinds of backpackers: those traveling North and those traveling South. From what I can tell, Halong Bay cruises seemed to be either the beginning or the end of a Viet Nam trip for those we've met; therefore, we have been able to hear about places to go and things to do once we started heading South from those traveling North.

After a short boat ride, we came to Monkey Island--a nice little detour on our way to Cat Ba Island. Monkey Island is a small island known for the wild monkeys that can be seen playing on the beach, swinging from the trees, or climbing on the rocks, and as we approached the beach on the island, we could clearly see monkeys in the distance--moving from tree to tree. Our new tour guide told us if we wanted to see them up close, we needed to take a hike. Upon hearing this, Ruben, Elliott, and I were skeptical because we could see the rocks we needed to climb and we were each wearing flip-flops. Nevertheless, we decided it would be completely worthwhile to find a monkey or even snap a picture with one, so up we went in our resilient Rainbow sandals.

Honestly, I think they call it Monkey Island because the tour guides manage to convince tourists into hiking up the most jagged rocks in search for monkeys, but what turns out instead is tourists looking like monkeys as they scale the incredibly gnarly rocks. During our hike up, it was quite a sight watching those ahead of me making their way up, and meanwhile, we had not had a single monkey sighting . . .

After reaching a point on the rock mountain where we all agreed it was time to stop going up and start making our way back down, I had a chance to capture a few photos from the top:

Once we finally made our way off the jagged rocks and onto a better path in the treed-in area, we actually found a monkey sitting on the rock who was mildly entertaining some of those ahead of us. I have to tell you, I am very fortunate to have been behind the few ahead of me already playing with the monkey because much to my expectation, it was not a friendly little creature. For example, one Vietnamese tourist attempted to sit next to the monkey for a picture, and almost immediately, the monkey slapped his face, knocking his glasses off which startled everyone around. Then, the monkey showed his teeth, and it was at this point where I decided to get my picture and keep moving down toward the beach because I was not looking to get scratched or have a wrestling match with that little guy.

Let me remind you, he is NOT as harmless and cuddly as he looks in this picture!

After our eventful hike around Monkey Island, we got back on the boat and were finally dropped off on Cat Ba Island. Our day's adventures, however, were not yet over because we still had a last stop at Cat Ba National Park for more hiking and more breath-taking views. At this point in the day, all I wanted to do was lay in this hammock I found on the beach at Monkey Island, but there are no party-poopers in our crew, so I eventually peeled myself out . . .

Feeling sticky, hot, tired, and hungry, our bus-load of backpackers were dropped at the entrance to Cat Ba National Park around 10:30am for an extremely long hike before lunch at our hotels, but it was SO worthwhile. The whole time we hiked in the park, you didn't really know what you were hiking to see or what to expect because we didn't have a formal guide for this hike. As we walked (and climbed), we based the fact that we needed to keep going up that mountain from what we were being told about the amazing views from those coming down. Some contemplated this and turned back because it was a really tough hike (especially for those wearing sandals!).

While the pictures above were able to capture a lot of what we experienced, I have to share a video because the views from the top could not truly be captured with any picture:

(SAM_0376) - VIDEO

We spent enough time on top of that rickety lookout tower to start getting a bit nervous and shaky, so we made our way down and hiked all the way back down. At the final steps toward the base of the trail, I swear to you my legs and knees were shaking and felt like they were about to give out. That hike had been a test of our stamina and determination; the heights we reached were not for the weak-hearted either! With our nerves (and knees!) shaken up a bit, we decided to have an ice cold beer at the bottom of the trail--probably the most refreshing beer I have ever drank!

After the last person made it down the trail, we boarded back onto the bus and were taken to our hotels for the night. We grabbed a filling lunch, gathered some laundry to get washed, and nursed our exhaustion with a long nap. A few hours later, we awoke with the sun setting and with enough time to get our free dinner from the hotel. We passed on that meal for a chance to go out to one of the two floating restaurants instead!

It was a great decision because once we pulled up to the restaurant, we were immediately told to follow this little lady and pick our dinner in the back of the restaurant. What? Yes, we approached these two areas in the back of the restaurant filled with seafood and were told to pick a fish from the one and then other assortments of seafood from the other.

It was really fun to see all the fish swimming around, point to the one we wanted to eat, and then watch the little lady try to wrestle it out to be weighed and cooked. We thought our first pick was a good one only to find out it was about $60USD after it was weighed, so we passed on that one and picked a MUCH smaller one instead. Then, we picked a crab, some mussels, and some prawns. We got back to our table, and within about 15 minutes, we had our crab, prawns, and mussels served with a heaping pile of rice and a full plate of morning glory. Soon after, we were also served our fish and another round of beers. What a MEAL!

Now well-rested and full from a large meal, we had room for a few drinks back on the island and time to make new backpacker friends. It's been interesting though, at this point in our trip to Viet Nam, because there are very few we've met who have been from the United States. This is something that remained true throughout our time here. Regardless, it was another fun night with my buddies as we made new friends from all over the world, had a shot of snake whiskey (and nearly gagged afterward), and played card games very late into the night.

Next up on The Dandygram: Back to Hanoi for the Weekend and Visiting "All Things Ho Chi" with a Little Communism on the Side!

Arriving in Ha Noi, Bus Ride to Halong Bay, and a Three Day Cruise (Part 2)

We woke up Wednesday morning from a good night's sleep after our first night in Hanoi, and I think I even had some extra VND (Viet Nam Dong -- currency) in my pocket from our poker game the night before. We were now bright-eyed and bushy tailed with excitement for our next few days in Halong Bay and Cat Ba Island, an area in the northern region of Viet Nam. We were especially excited because it was not Hanoi which did not give us the best welcome to Viet Nam; plus, we really needed a break from the hot weather, honking, and motorbikes!

After a hearty breakfast, we went back to the travel agency that shuttled us to the bus station in Hanoi. We then bussed to Halong City and met our tour guide (a younger guy named Hai) and other tourists boarding boats for the night out on Halong Bay. By no real decision of our own, and probably a result of booking through the travel agency in the airport, we were about to spend the night on the boat with a very friendly Vietnamese family from Ho Chi Minh City.

The three of us and the twelve in the Vietnamese family (consisting of three generations) had an awkward start as the ice had not yet broken between our groups. As a rather large family group, three of us, and only three tables for lunch, the Vietnamese family--mostly the fathers/uncles--seemed to be awkwardly discussing at length about how to divide up the family and who would be sitting in the open seats at our table. What seemed to be the uncles (the fathers of the children) came to our table, sat down, and threw up their glasses of beer and ice for a toast. The ice had officially been broken, and now we could comfortably eat while listening to them speak Vietnamese about who knows what. Nevertheless, the meal has been one of the best yet in Viet Nam.

After our meal, we chatted with our tour guide named Hai about what to expect on our cruise. He told us we would be visiting caves, kayaking, swimming, hiking, and spending a few hours on Monkey Island. Our first stop: CAVES, but first I must digress for a moment to share the magnificent beauty surrounding us on the boat ride at all times: hundreds and thousands of karst formations, or rather, limestone islands rising out of emerald waters in the Gulf of the Tonkin. Once again, it was a breathtaking and marvelous chance to see something quite unique and incredible. It is difficult to put words to such beauty (much like the waterfall in Chiang Rai), so I captured a few great photos to help me out!

Alright, back to the CAVES! The boat was docked at the base of a limestone island, and Hai instructed our group to walk the plank . . . down to the dock and explore the cave. This was a great chance to stretch our legs. Thankfully, I was not getting sea sick so far, so I felt rest assured I would be fine for the remainder of the cruise. Plus, the water remained calm throughout our time on Halong Bay. As we entered the cave after a short hike up, the lighting inside really helped to add so much to the experience.

Hai kept us moving through the cave, telling stories about different rock structures and the things others would represent. It was great to have a guide so knowledgeable and fluent in English. We would later teach him how to play Texas Hold'Em Poker and then watch him take all of our VND! Back on the boat, we chatted up with Hai again, and at this point, some of the smaller children were up on the deck with us playing and the eldest girl, Linh, also talked with us about Ho Chi Minh City. Her English was also exceptional. Here is Hai, our phenomenal tour guide, and some of the young kids on the cruise with us.

After a while, we were at our next stop for the day: KAYAKING. We were told we only had about 20-30 minutes to be out in the bay, so we made our way to one of the islands that had a cave at the base, pulled our boats up on the beach there, and walked around the cave for a little bit. It was nothing too exciting, but it was fun to be out on the water and have a chance to jump in--at least I did! The water was perfect and quite refreshing but very salty. We made our way back to the boat to find the Vietnamese kids from the family having a blast trying to navigate their kayaks around.

Our last stop for the day and before dinner was back to the island pictured in a previous picture with a little pagoda at the top of it. It is an island called Dao TiTop Island, and it is named after Gherman Titov, a former Soviet Union hero. We hiked to the top (about 430 steps), and the views were incredible, but the hike up was exhausting!

Once we made our way back down Dao TiTop Island, the day's activities had caught up to us because we were growing tired and hungry. It was nearly 5pm, and as Hai was there to explain, it was time for showering, another meal, and a night on the boat playing poker.

Next up on The Dandygram: Halong Bay Cruise and Cat Ba Island, Part 3!

Arriving in Ha Noi, Bus Ride to Halong Bay, and a Three Day Cruise (Part 1)

I need to preface this Dandygram by first explaining that things are completely different in Viet Nam than they were in Thailand, and this notion came immediately upon our arrival to Hanoi, Viet Nam Tuesday morning . . .

Christa and I left our new friends and my cousin Rachie in Chiang Rai very late Monday night to meet Ruben and Elliott in Bangkok. We arrived to Bangkok around 11pm, and once there, Elliott and Ruben phoned to let us know they had a hostel for a night and that they would be able to let Christa stay there because she was would soon meet her boyfriend from Berkeley the next day to travel south to Phuket and the Phi Phi islands.

Elliott and Ruben finally arrived to Bangkok Airport around 2am for our 7am flight to Hanoi, Viet Nam. It was a rough night in the airport, but while I waited for them, I made friends with another backpacker from Germany named Johanna. As we talked, she filled me in on beautiful places to see and visit if (when) I go to Cambodia. Her English was exceptional and she had a fondness for UC Berkeley because it was somewhere she always wanted to study for her Masters. She had just been in Cambodia working on her thesis for an M.S.W.

As we walked and talked, we eventually ran into Elliott and Ruben and found a place to have a beer and catch up with them. It was great to see my friends again, and despite the late hour, we were ecstatic about our upcoming trip to Viet Nam. With momentum from our excitement, we managed to tentatively plan out our first few days with the decision to try and get to Halong Bay as soon as we could and then visit Cat Ba Island.

. . .

We later arrived to Hanoi around 9am Tuesday morning after our short flight from Bangkok. Going through customs, getting our passports stamped, and grabbing our backpacks, we found a travel agency in the airport to make our tentative plans a reality--much like we had originally intended. Essentially, we booked a two night, three day cruise with an overnight stay on a junk (boat) and another on Cat Ba Island.

Now, when I originally made the claim about Viet Nam being very different from Thailand, this was first noticeable at the airport. Those greeting us and stamping our passports had no smiles on their faces from what I could see. No hello or Xin chao. No welcome to (or GOOOD MORRRNING) Viet Nam. Nothing. I wasn't expecting the Hawaiian greeting (getting laid as you deplane), but the cold greeting in Hanoi left me feeling completely disconnected with the culture and immediately missing the Land of Smiles.

We soon found the friendly travel agent who, I must add, worked for the Viet Nam Department of Tourism. With great English, she helped us book our trip to Halong Bay and Cat Ba Island, made a hotel reservation for that night in Hanoi, informed us of the pick-up times and travel lengths/accommodations, and even got us our first taxi in Viet Nam.

Honestly, the taxi ride from the airport in Hanoi was ridiculous--if only I had a video clip of the experience! Instead, I'll try to paint you a visual:

First of all, our driver's English was not only broken but completely shattered. This isn't bad, but it definitely did not help with what then ensued. About five minutes into our drive to the hotel, he managed to explain in shattered English that he needed to go somewhere we had already PASSED to pick up his bag/briefcase. So, he came to a complete stop on the side of the freeway and further insisted he must turn around to get his bag. Uh, no? Having absolutely no luck expressing our dissatisfaction in his sudden change in plans with our taxi service, he started to BACK UP in the slow lane on the highway until he was able to make a hard left to the last exit while crossing four lanes of traffic. HOLY SH!T was an understatement as this incident unfolded.

After he parked, ran away, and then returned a while later with his "bag" (a VERY heavy briefcase according to Elliott whose lap it was placed), we were back on the road. Thank goodness, but the moments in the cab, waiting for him to get his bomb, were actually quite pleasant compared to the next twenty minutes of constant honking on the highway into Hanoi, all the while dodging motorbikes and other cars in the clearly marked lanes that mattered to no one.

Honks came from everywhere, yet we still haven't been able to figure out at what point the drivers and motorbikes decide to honk. Our taxi driver--equipped with an impressively loud horn, three tourists, and his bomb--seemed to use his horn five times more and twice as long as every other driver on the road that morning. This may not have been THAT bad, but after the night we'd just had and feelings of grogginess in full effect, we were a bit sensitive to his HONK-HONK-HONKING. It did not get much better, and Elliott and Ruben will easily attest to the fact that we had the honk-happiest driver in all of Hanoi.

Now bestowed with three splitting headaches, we eventually made it to our hotel where the staff was happy to greet us and quickly arranged us into a bedroom with three separate twin beds. This was a chance for us to unload our gear, which I might add, my backpack all loaded up has been very comfortable (thanks Mom and Dad!). We rested for a bit until we couldn't take our cravings for some food any longer, so we walked less than a block and had our first helping of Vietnamese street food.

With full stomachs but very little sleep, the next decision about what to do with our next few hours in Hanoi was lingering heavy overhead like smog now in the air . . . some SLEEP! We quickly got ourselves back to our hotel and crashed HARD for a few solid hours. It had never felt so good, but I awoke to more honking and a craving for a rolled cigarette, so we got back to being tourists and took some showers--freshening up for our first night in Hanoi, Viet Nam!

The sun was finally setting once we got back outside, so it was much cooler in the streets and less humid--a nice change--but the motorbikes still crowded the streets, and of course, so did the honking.

Standing in front of the entrance to our hotel, we were immediately approached by a few guys about getting a motorbike ride to our destination--a place called La Salsa that serves tapas and Spanish cuisine. Understandably, some of our stomachs needed a break from the local food, but once we experienced our first motorbike ride in a city with (literally) no traffic laws or observable method to driving around other than not getting hit or hitting others, we would have probably been better off just eating some Pho.

Here are a few photos and a video that might help you experience what we did on this short ride through the French Quarter in Hanoi.

As you can see, it was a quite stressful, or "sketchy" as Elliott said, and I would definitely agree, but we made it to our destination safely, enjoyed some great food, and decided to instead take a bicycle taxi back to our hotel that night.

Once there, we played some poker using our new Viet Nam Dong and had a quite evening to sleep in and rest for our three day cruise to Halong Bay and Cat Ba Island that was ahead of us.

Next up on The Dandygram: Arriving to Ha Noi, Bus Ride to Halong Bay, and a Three Day Cruise (Part 2)!