Travel Log: Vietnam
Wow, look at me, posting, not to mention actually uploading a large batch of pics, within a day of coming home! Go me! (This reeeeallly should not feel like an accomplishment! :-p)
So, for our last romp through Asia before leaving Japan, xparrot and I took a quick trip (only 3 nights) to Hanoi and Ha Long Bay in Vietnam. And I have to say, Ha Long Bay may in fact be one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. Ever.
We arrived in Hanoi late Sunday night (to my immense relief we had no trouble entering the country, the visa-on-arrival system working without a hitch, a worry which had plagued me the whole flight) and went straight to bed (okay, so there might have been a little MUNCLE fic reading...we're in the throes of a new fandom, what can you do? ^_-) as we were getting picked up fairly early the next day.
After a quick breakfast Monday morning, we nipped outside for a short walk to hunt down an ATM and had our first taste of Vietnamese traffic. And let me tell you, it was TERRIFYING!! See, cars are outrageously expensive for the average Vietnamese and as such, less popular on the roads. Instead, they all ride motorbikes. Lots and lots and lots and LOTS of motorbikes.
Motorbikes which weave around cars and pedestrians alike at crazy speeds (and often in crazy directions. Like on the sidewalk. -_-) And if that's not scary enough, there is a serious lack of pedestrian crossings. Or lights in general. Only the reeeeallly big intersections have traffic signals, and then only about half of those have ones for foot traffic. Not that it really matters, because even when the green light is blinking cheerfully, indicating you should cross, there's still about a million motor bikes going every which way.
Instead you just have to suck it up, take a deep breath, and start across, keeping very firmly in mind that despite all sane instincts screaming at you to book it, that's liable to get you killed. Go slowly, at a nice even pace, they just doge around you. Run, and you become unpredictable and, consequently, very very FLAT.
And, to round it all off, in this crazed world of vehicular chaos, horns become a driver's best BEST friend. The *beep beep* of horns was ubiquitous every where we went; half the time they seemed to be using them as some form of greeting, rather than any obvious road-related purpose.
Despite all that, it's amazing how quickly you can adjust, and by our final evening we were ambling across the streets with, well...maybe not the best of them, but at least we were no longer a quivering mass of "OMG you want me to walk WHERE?!" every time an intersection approached. But, that first morning, a two minute walk to the ATM felt very much like we were taking our lives in our hands with every step.
Back at our hotel, the tour bus for Ha Long Bay arrived (assurging my final fears about the success of the trip organization. Booking tours on line can always be a bit nerve racking, but especially so when the travel boards for Vietnam contained lots and LOTS of warnings about various scams, etc). We were quickly ushered onto the bus. The hurry, in turned out, being that it wasn't really supposed to be driving down this street at all, it being much too wide for the narrow road, and the cops had already hassled them once about it today. Oops! :-p Our incredibly nice tour guide, Quan, who spoke quite good English, especially considering he'd never once been abroad, assured us it wasn't that big a problem (giving the distinct impression that this was a very common occurrence :-p).
The three hour ride was mainly through the countryside and gave us a nice glimpse of rural Vietnam. Most of the ride we spent alternating between appreciating the views and chatting with our fellow passengers, whom we'd be sharing the boat with. There was fifteen of us all together: 8 Aussies, 4 Americans (including us), 2 Germans and a Canadian and for the most part everyone was very friendly. All were experienced world travels; the most popular conversation topic by far the various places we'd all been.
The harbor was crammed with boats,
and we had to wait a bit before we could board our own. The boat itself was very nice, the staff friendly, the food delicious and our cabin small but very comfortable. Not that all that mattered overly much, what with the breathtaking views we spent the next 24 hours sailing past.
Apart from cruising around and about the 1,500 limestone islands that make up Ha Long Bay, we also docked once to visit one of the various caves scattered about the islands. I've always liked limestone caves, having visited a few back in the States, but this one was just so impressively massive! Each chamber we passed through got progressively larger, and the main one was so sprawling, it was hard to capture the sheer magnitude from any one place. But here are a few attempts:
After the cave, we sailed for a bit more before finding a quieter cove to drop anchor for the night. Before dinner there was time for a pleasant swim and the water was perfect. (Well, for me at least. Everyone else said it was a bit cold. ^_-) A few more boats joined us as dusk fell and we sat up on the top deck, watching the sunset, lights slowly coming on around us as dark fell.
The next morning we had to be up bright and very early (6:30 a.m., to be exact, which is normally closer to our bed time) and not the most appealing prospect, but made palatable when you awake to sights like this:
Following breakfast, we went for a wonderful kayaking trip (which I sadly didn't bring my camera on for fear of getting it wet. A legitimate concern, considering how soaked we were upon our return) close to and even passing under some of the looming limestone karsts. After that, we made our way back to the harbor, and then on to Hanoi, arriving in the early evening.
That night we walked around the Old Quarter for a bit, perused the night market there and took in a Water Puppet show, which was just amazing. The traditional music played throughout the performance was beautiful, especially this one instrument,
s
the name of which I didn't catch, but had this very...very... um...indescribable (I know, I suck, sorry! :-p) quality to it.
The puppets themselves were beautifully carved, and the use of water as a stage made for a truly unique performance. The pics only came out so so, but I did get a couple good videos that I'll see about posting later.
Wednesday we got up in time to meet the seamstress who came by to drop off the traditional outfit I'd been fitted for the night before. Which she the proceeded to sew. In 12 hours. Incredible. And she was really sweet. Didn't speak much English, but what she could she used to great effect.
The rest of the day we spent seeing some of the sights of the city. We passed an hour or two at the Temple of Literature,
a scholarly institute dating back to the 11th century (where some school girls got very excited to see foreigners and asked to have their picture taken with us) and then on to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Complex. In between we stopped at great restaurant recommended in Lonely Planet for a truly delicious lunch.
The late afternoon and evening was spent souvenir/omiyage shopping and wandering around more of the Old Quarter and Hoan Kien Lake. Then it was back to the hotel and the taxi waiting to take us to the airport for our red-eye back to Japan.
And then there was the fun of arriving at Kansai International at 5:30 in the morning and finding everything closed, including MK Shuttle and the trains. Though we had a reservation with the shuttle, waiting two hours for it was too frustrating an idea after a long day and a flight, so we took the first train, at 6:30 AM, finally getting back to our place around 8:30, at which time we promptly passed out (after checking email and LJ, of course. Part of the internet junky generation and proud of it! ^_-)
So that was Vietnam. And next month, it's packing and then the long haul back to the States. I'm gonna miss Japan, as well as the easy access to the rest of Asia! But, it's been a good few years, five more countries under my belt, and Europe to look forward to in the fall, and well, odds are I'll be back to Japan eventually ^_^
Oh, in case anyone's interested, I have quite a few more Vietnam pics uploaded at my Picas album here.
So, for our last romp through Asia before leaving Japan, xparrot and I took a quick trip (only 3 nights) to Hanoi and Ha Long Bay in Vietnam. And I have to say, Ha Long Bay may in fact be one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. Ever.
We arrived in Hanoi late Sunday night (to my immense relief we had no trouble entering the country, the visa-on-arrival system working without a hitch, a worry which had plagued me the whole flight) and went straight to bed (okay, so there might have been a little MUNCLE fic reading...we're in the throes of a new fandom, what can you do? ^_-) as we were getting picked up fairly early the next day.
After a quick breakfast Monday morning, we nipped outside for a short walk to hunt down an ATM and had our first taste of Vietnamese traffic. And let me tell you, it was TERRIFYING!! See, cars are outrageously expensive for the average Vietnamese and as such, less popular on the roads. Instead, they all ride motorbikes. Lots and lots and lots and LOTS of motorbikes.
Motorbikes which weave around cars and pedestrians alike at crazy speeds (and often in crazy directions. Like on the sidewalk. -_-) And if that's not scary enough, there is a serious lack of pedestrian crossings. Or lights in general. Only the reeeeallly big intersections have traffic signals, and then only about half of those have ones for foot traffic. Not that it really matters, because even when the green light is blinking cheerfully, indicating you should cross, there's still about a million motor bikes going every which way.
Instead you just have to suck it up, take a deep breath, and start across, keeping very firmly in mind that despite all sane instincts screaming at you to book it, that's liable to get you killed. Go slowly, at a nice even pace, they just doge around you. Run, and you become unpredictable and, consequently, very very FLAT.
And, to round it all off, in this crazed world of vehicular chaos, horns become a driver's best BEST friend. The *beep beep* of horns was ubiquitous every where we went; half the time they seemed to be using them as some form of greeting, rather than any obvious road-related purpose.
Despite all that, it's amazing how quickly you can adjust, and by our final evening we were ambling across the streets with, well...maybe not the best of them, but at least we were no longer a quivering mass of "OMG you want me to walk WHERE?!" every time an intersection approached. But, that first morning, a two minute walk to the ATM felt very much like we were taking our lives in our hands with every step.
Back at our hotel, the tour bus for Ha Long Bay arrived (assurging my final fears about the success of the trip organization. Booking tours on line can always be a bit nerve racking, but especially so when the travel boards for Vietnam contained lots and LOTS of warnings about various scams, etc). We were quickly ushered onto the bus. The hurry, in turned out, being that it wasn't really supposed to be driving down this street at all, it being much too wide for the narrow road, and the cops had already hassled them once about it today. Oops! :-p Our incredibly nice tour guide, Quan, who spoke quite good English, especially considering he'd never once been abroad, assured us it wasn't that big a problem (giving the distinct impression that this was a very common occurrence :-p).
The three hour ride was mainly through the countryside and gave us a nice glimpse of rural Vietnam. Most of the ride we spent alternating between appreciating the views and chatting with our fellow passengers, whom we'd be sharing the boat with. There was fifteen of us all together: 8 Aussies, 4 Americans (including us), 2 Germans and a Canadian and for the most part everyone was very friendly. All were experienced world travels; the most popular conversation topic by far the various places we'd all been.
The harbor was crammed with boats,
and we had to wait a bit before we could board our own. The boat itself was very nice, the staff friendly, the food delicious and our cabin small but very comfortable. Not that all that mattered overly much, what with the breathtaking views we spent the next 24 hours sailing past.
Apart from cruising around and about the 1,500 limestone islands that make up Ha Long Bay, we also docked once to visit one of the various caves scattered about the islands. I've always liked limestone caves, having visited a few back in the States, but this one was just so impressively massive! Each chamber we passed through got progressively larger, and the main one was so sprawling, it was hard to capture the sheer magnitude from any one place. But here are a few attempts:
After the cave, we sailed for a bit more before finding a quieter cove to drop anchor for the night. Before dinner there was time for a pleasant swim and the water was perfect. (Well, for me at least. Everyone else said it was a bit cold. ^_-) A few more boats joined us as dusk fell and we sat up on the top deck, watching the sunset, lights slowly coming on around us as dark fell.
The next morning we had to be up bright and very early (6:30 a.m., to be exact, which is normally closer to our bed time) and not the most appealing prospect, but made palatable when you awake to sights like this:
Following breakfast, we went for a wonderful kayaking trip (which I sadly didn't bring my camera on for fear of getting it wet. A legitimate concern, considering how soaked we were upon our return) close to and even passing under some of the looming limestone karsts. After that, we made our way back to the harbor, and then on to Hanoi, arriving in the early evening.
That night we walked around the Old Quarter for a bit, perused the night market there and took in a Water Puppet show, which was just amazing. The traditional music played throughout the performance was beautiful, especially this one instrument,
s
the name of which I didn't catch, but had this very...very... um...indescribable (I know, I suck, sorry! :-p) quality to it.
The puppets themselves were beautifully carved, and the use of water as a stage made for a truly unique performance. The pics only came out so so, but I did get a couple good videos that I'll see about posting later.
Wednesday we got up in time to meet the seamstress who came by to drop off the traditional outfit I'd been fitted for the night before. Which she the proceeded to sew. In 12 hours. Incredible. And she was really sweet. Didn't speak much English, but what she could she used to great effect.
The rest of the day we spent seeing some of the sights of the city. We passed an hour or two at the Temple of Literature,
a scholarly institute dating back to the 11th century (where some school girls got very excited to see foreigners and asked to have their picture taken with us) and then on to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Complex. In between we stopped at great restaurant recommended in Lonely Planet for a truly delicious lunch.
The late afternoon and evening was spent souvenir/omiyage shopping and wandering around more of the Old Quarter and Hoan Kien Lake. Then it was back to the hotel and the taxi waiting to take us to the airport for our red-eye back to Japan.
And then there was the fun of arriving at Kansai International at 5:30 in the morning and finding everything closed, including MK Shuttle and the trains. Though we had a reservation with the shuttle, waiting two hours for it was too frustrating an idea after a long day and a flight, so we took the first train, at 6:30 AM, finally getting back to our place around 8:30, at which time we promptly passed out (after checking email and LJ, of course. Part of the internet junky generation and proud of it! ^_-)
So that was Vietnam. And next month, it's packing and then the long haul back to the States. I'm gonna miss Japan, as well as the easy access to the rest of Asia! But, it's been a good few years, five more countries under my belt, and Europe to look forward to in the fall, and well, odds are I'll be back to Japan eventually ^_^
Oh, in case anyone's interested, I have quite a few more Vietnam pics uploaded at my Picas album here.