Hoi An - A Quaint Small Town

We strolled into Hoi An which is a quaint town with old traditional charm, catering what appears to be only to the tourists. We arrived around noon on the 12th of Feb (just an aside to wish our Dubbie a “Happy B-day!) to find that most hotels and guest houses were booked solid for the festival that would be taking place that night. We did not anticipate this and were some what discouraged after walking around town in the blazing sun and heat with all of our bags for about two hours. We finally found a place in town with a pool and it included free internet service, free bikes, and a free breakfast for $18 US. A little out of our budget but we were glad to find refuge from the baking heat and sun. The pool although cold at first was the thing we needed to cool our bodies and our frustrations. Derek, Krista, Rav and I spent the remainder of the day wandering around town to get our bearings, checking local restaurants, and got some clothes made. That night we went to see the festival that everyone around town was talking about. Just after 7 pm as the sun went down, the city streets lit up with traditional lanterns (only with electric bulbs instead of candles). Some streets leading to the river was closed to all bicycles and vehicular traffic and became a sea of people walking towards the River. It was quite the experience. We took in the festivities for about a hour or so, and could not take it any more, and decided to leave, fighting our way through the waves of people still making their way to the main stage. We finally broke through and were glad to be away from the crowd. We strolled by some restaurants by the local market, checking for prices (Beer prices that is… why pay $2 a bottle when you can get some for 90 cents for 1.5 liter?)

We decided to fill our stomachs as well, so we sat down at a restaurant and we were there for the rest of the night. As we ordered our food I overheard a Caucasian man speaking fluent Vietnamese to the waitress. It was very strange to hear. As it turned out he and his friend are two young Russians studying Vietnamese in Da Nang, a near by city about 25 km north of Hoi An. We found out that they have been studying Vietnamese for 3 years in Russia before coming over to Vietnam and have been in Vietnam now for about 4 months. As we sat there talking with Sasha and Ruslan, we noticed Stuart walking by, a friend I had met during my tour of duty through the DMZ, north of Hue. He joined in the festivities. The music and songs of the full moon festival was in full swing and it provided the background noise for our conversations. We were celebrating our own festival with our newly found friends. Toast after toast came and went as did the crowds on the street and we did not even notice as the time dwindled into the night.

(From L-R Krista, Derek, Sasha, Stuart, Chris, Ruslan and Rav at dinner

It was a surreal experience speaking my native tongue with two Russians. Their mannerism and command of the Vietnamese language and vocabulary was impressive to say the least. So what do you get when you put two Canadian Vietnamese and their girlfriends with two Russians speaking Vietnamese and an Englishmen from London, 24 bottles of beers, one bottle of Vodka and one bottle of Vietnamese rice wine? You get one great evening where the borders of all races seemed to disappear; you make new friends from other parts of the world whom you can never meet anywhere else. I can say for all of us Canucks that we were mighty disappointed when the neighbour of the restaurant complained of the noise and we had to shut it down. The entire evening cost 254,000 dong ($17 Canadian) but the friendships made are priceless…. Thank you Ruslan, Sasha, and Stuart for being a part of this festive and unforgettable night (oh and we can’t forget to thank the Austrian who got us kicked out)…

The next day was spent wandering around town checking out some of the old heritage buildings and getting some more clothes made. As we meandered through town we ran into Ruslan and Sasha, as they were getting ready to leave Hoi An. We said our goodbyes to one another and went our separate ways knowing we’d keep in touch.

Ruslan, Sasha, Chris, Derek, Krista, and Rav

Chris and Rav at the JapaneseBridge

That afternoon, we took the free bikes and found our way to the beach and spent some time there before returning for our fittings.

Huhda for the Buddha

On our last day in Hoi An we rented a couple of motorcycles ($4 US for the entire day) and drove to the Marble Mountains where we saw some amazing caves and temples - see attached photos.

Krista and Derek on their bikes

Rav abandoning Chris

Chris Meditating at Marble Mountain

Sunlight shining through a temple in a cave

What a Sight!

Sunlight shining onto a statue in the cave

DMZ - The Demilitarized Zone

This was a 10 hour tour where we spent the entire day traveling from one place to the next. Since we were the last on the bus, Derek, Krista and I had to sit with people we did not know. This turned out be a pleasant surprise as we all met some very interesting people that day. Krista sat with a man who has been traveling around the whole world for 3 years straight and can speak 6 languages. He had so many interesting stories to share. Derek met a young woman traveling with a friend for about 4 months from Holland, and I met a young man name Stewart from London. He quit his job and traveled through Russia and China and is now making his way through Vietnam. He is traveling by himself and we have bumped into him on some other random occasions during our travels down Vietnam. (Side picture - Derek holding the Vietnamese Flag)

So the DMZ is an area that was created as a free fighting zone between the North and South Vietnamese. During the late 60’s and early 70’s, this was one of the worse zones in terms of military activity. During the Vietnam War, over 4 million people lost their lives and about 2.7 million of these were innocent civilians. This area had 7 tons of bombs per capita over the duration of the war. Today over 14,000 people are still being killed from mines and bombs around this region. The vegetation in this region has not recovered from the Napalm gases and Agent Orange chemical used during the war. There are a high percentage of cancer as well as birth deformities in this region.

We visited such important locations such as the Ho Chi Minh Trail and the civilian tunnels in this region. The tunnels was an intricate system, consisting of over 22,000 km. The tunnels were used by the local people to hide from the military activity. Our tour guide was a Vietnamese woman whom commanded the English language well, so she made the tour more interesting and informative. We physically went through a section of the tunnel and were overwhelmed by the smallness of the tunnel and I could not help but wonder how anyone could have lived there. These tunnels were in use for well over 6 years during the war between the North and South. It showed the true ability in perseverance within the human spirit. It was a long day, but one that I will not soon forget.

Derek and Krista at the entrance to the DMZ tunnel

Bridge linking North and South Vietnam

Hue

Hue is a small city which lies along the Perfume River. It is much smaller than the first two cities we have visited here in Vietnam and is a lot calmer and quieter. There are a lot less horns honking and people here actually seem to stop at red lights.

We arrived on the 8th around 8:30am after somewhat of a restless night’s sleep on the train. We arrived at the train station to numerous taxi drivers who wanted to know where we were going and suggested various hotels to stay at. Luckily, we knew we wanted to stay at the Binh Minh Hotel as this was a hotel that Nancy and Troy had emailed us about when they stayed in Hue and said it was a very clean and friendly family run business where the owners were not pushy and very straight forward with their prices and tour costs. We decided to call them and they graciously picked us up from the train station and we were taken to the hotel within 10 minutes. We were greeted at once by a very friendly and sweet young lady who spoke very well English and showed us the various types of rooms they had for $15-$25 US. We went with the $15 US room which was a great deal. The $15 included free breakfast, free internet and a very spacious room with a queen size bed and a shower WITH A TUB!! This may not seem like a lot but in the past two hotels we had stayed at, the showers had no tubs. The shower head was just on the wall and you pretty much took a shower next to the toilet and the entire washroom would get wet and you just use the floor as your tub. So this was a very pleasant surprise for us and we decided the extra $3 compared to the last hotel we stayed at was well worth it.

Once we were checked in, we rented some bikes and biked over the bridge to the Royal Citadel, also known as the Forbidden City. The citadel was built to protect the Royal city beyond. The Royal city was still functioning up until the end of the 19th century so it was no surprise to see canon at the citadel. The Royal City also known as the Forbidden City belonged to the Royal family and the officials (Mandarins both Administrative and Military) no commoners were allowed into this gated precinct. What once was the center of all cultural, intellectual and political activity now stands in ruins for the most part. Although so restoration have been taking place in the past 20 years, most of the city is over grown by vegetation and dilapidated building. In one portion of the complex there was some major reconstruction taking place as columns and beams were being made. It was interesting to see just how they built their post and beam in the past. We spent about 3 hours and then decided to get some coffee along the river.

Evening boat cruise on the Perfume River with traditional singing and music. It was a bit much, as we could not really understand what they were singing about. The boat was rather noisy and the other people on the boat were rather loud.

Main Gate at The Royal City

Main Gate at The Royal City

The Citadel

One of many gates in the Royal City

Chris and Rav in a Pagoda in the Royal City

Lady Performer using Tea Cups to Create Music

Floating Lanterns we got to Release on the Perfume River

Boat Cruise

Yesterday, Feb 9th, was the worst day possible weather wise that we have experienced. It was very cold and we had periods of on and off torrential rains which put a damper on what we had booked for the day. We had booked an all day boat cruise which rode along the famous Perfume River. We stopped along the way at many pagodas and tombs but the torrential rains stopped us from going to some of these sites and at others we found the additional entrance fees and fees to get a motorcycle to take you to some of the tombs was ridiculous, so to save some money we sat some of the sites out. We saw 3 out of the 5 sites and that was enough for us. (Side picture – Bad Weather on the Boat Cruise)

More Bad Weather

Tomb of Minh Mang

He’s Even Shorten than his Ancestors

You think you Have Bad Breath!!!

Although the weather could have been the worse part of the day, it was not. On the boat ride back, I was not feeling well at all and tried my best to keep my upset stomach in check but it did not work. I ended up throwing up over the side of the boat and was ill the rest of the evening. I couldn’t eat, sleep or keep from running to the washroom. With Chris by my side though to comfort me, massage my back and get me anything I needed, it made the horrible night a bit better. Today I am in the hotel getting my rest as I still do not feel 100% while Chris, Derek and Krista are on an all day bus tour of the DMZ (demilitarized zone) and the Vinh Moc Tunnels. I look forward to seeing them tonight to hear all about the tour.

Well, I think we’re FINALLY up to date on our updates, what a relief. We hope you’re all enjoying them as much as we are. I’m off to go and walk the streets of Hue on my own and get some fresh air. Chris will provide the next update on his all day tour today.

Hope all is well back home in Vancouver....

Historic Hanoi - So Much to See

After the exhaustive climb up to the Perfume Pagoda, Chris and I decided to spend the next day as a slow paced recovery day. We actually got to sleep in (seems like we haven’t had a chance to do that since back in Fiji as every day since then has been jam packed with things to do) and later that afternoon, spent the day walking around the streets, checking out the numerous shops and soaking in everything that was happening around us. My bargaining skills were put to the test again and we were able to pick up a few souvenirs. At one store I was able to get some pretty great prices and the owner said she was selling this to us at a loss and at first I felt really bad as I didn’t want to rip anyone off but then came to realize that if they were really losing money on the sale, they didn’t have to sell the items to me and could have just said “no”. Later that evening when Krista and Derek came back from their mini excursion, we hooked up for dinner and talked about our respective trips. Derek and Krista enjoyed their stay as they got to get away from the city but found there were a lot of “hidden” costs associated with the trip which they were not made aware of. They enjoyed the nature park as much as they could (it seemed like you had to pay to get into certain parts of the park if you wanted to go for additional hikes) and really enjoyed the Tam Coc caves as they got to go into the caves and didn’t have to fight with thousands of others tourists and boats. They even got to see a bat and Krista was brave enough to take a picture of it (praying the entire time that it wasn’t going to fly towards her when she took the shot!).

Streets of Hanoi

Wandering Downtown Hanoi

Our last day in Hanoi before we hopped on the train to Hue was Feb 7th and we spent the entire day sightseeing and seeing many of the must see tourist spots of Hanoi.

President Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum

The mausoleum was officially inaugurated on August 29, 1975 after two years of construction. The project was the result of a close collaboration between engineers from Vietnam and the former Soviet Union in order to keep the remains of President Ho Chi Minh, a great patriot who was later conferred the title of “World Cultural Activist”.

There were hundreds and hundreds of tourists waiting to stand in line to get a glimpse of the President in the Mausoleum. Since Chris had seen this before, he decided to sit this one out to take care of our bags and cameras (as none of these items were allowed in the Mausoleum) and Derek, Krista and I stood in line. As we got closer and closer to the entrance, I was not sure what to expect. We walked through a series of passages and flights of marble stairs where we saw the remains of the President in a chamber. It was very strange to see someone who has been dead for so long right there in front of you. I’m not sure what I was expecting but the President looked very distinguished and important in his suit and looked quite “real”. We did not get to spend much time inside the chamber as they kept moving us along in a steady pace.



One Pillar Pagoda

Outside of the Mausoleum around the back is the One Pillar Pagoda which means “long lasting happiness and good luck”. It was first built in 1049, during the reign of Emperor Ly Thai Tong and according to legend, Emperor Ly Thai Tong who had no children, often went to pagodas to pray to Buddha for a son. One night, he dreamed that he was granted a private audience with Buddha. In his dream, Buddha was seated on a lotus flower in a square shaped lotus pond where the Buddha gave the Emperor a baby boy. Months later, when the queen gave birth to a male child, the Emperor ordered the construction of a pagoda supported by one pillar to resemble the lotus seat of his dream in the honor of Buddha.








Ho Chi Minh Museum

The Ho Chi Minh Museum is also located behind the Mausoleum and was completed in 1990 for the anniversary of President Ho Chi Minh’s birthday. The museum is a four story building and designed in the shape of a lotus flower as a symbol of the President’s noble character.

The main showroom displays thousands of documents, articles, pictures and exhibits illustrating the historical events that took place during Ho Chi Minh’s life as well as important events that occurred in the rest of the world since the end of the 19th century.

We were also able to view the Calligraphy section of the museum where various calligraphers had converted Ho Chi Minh’s diary that he had kept when he was wrongly thrown in jail. I found some of the poems and entries that he wrote moving and was impressed at how he could sum up his situation in just a few words.









Temple of Literature

The Temple of Literature was built in 1070 in honor of Confucius, his followers, and Chu Van An, a moral figure in Vietnamese education. Here you can also find Quoc Tu Giam or Vietnam’s first university. It was the first educational school for royal family members and it was later opened to talented students. This site now preserves historical vestiges of a 1,000 year old civilization such as statues of Confucius and his disciples and ancient constructions.















Lunch – Local Style

Before heading to the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology, we decided to stop to have some lunch and decided to have lunch the way locals do. We stopped at the corner of a street where you can find several little “corner restaurants” right on the sidewalks. They have small tables and stools set out and just cook right there on the streets. We weren’t sure if it was the most sanitary way to eat but figured we’d give it a shot so we stopped at a corner and had some bbq’d pork with noodles and green vegetables. We were happily surprised with the food and found it quite tasty. We were also lucky enough to be sitting right next to another small street vendor who was selling beer out of a keg known as Bai Hoi in Vietnam. We enjoyed our lunch and had some beers and the best part was the price. Lunch cost us each 10,000 dong which is 0.74 cents CDN and the cost for 5 glasses of beer came to a whopping 9,500 dong which is approximately 70 cents CDN. Yup, you read right, 70 cents. We were just as surprised as we had been used to spending around 12,000-15,000 (0.89–1.11 CDN) dong for a bottle of beer at other restaurants which we thought was a killer deal. Suffice to say the prices of some things in Vietnam still comes as a big surprise to us at times.



Vietnam Museum of Ethnology

The museum of Ethnology was opened at the end of 1997 and contains more than 10,000 objects, 15,000 black and white photos and hundreds of videos and cassettes which depict all aspects of life, activities, customs and habits of the 54 ethnic groups of Vietnam. The museum was quite interesting as it was able to recreate the daily life of these different ethnic groups along with their religious rituals and symbolic festivals. We were able to admire costumes, embroidery as well as outside stilt houses and habitats from different groups. The most interesting fact that we learned that we weren’t aware of is that there are around 1,000,000 Thais who live in Vietnam.







After a full day of walking around and touring the main highlights of the city, we made our way back to town as we were getting ready to catch our 7pm overnight sleeper train to Hue, a small city in Central Vietnam. We were unsure of what to expect from the sleeper train but overall were happy with what we got. The compartment of 4 was quite small and bit claustrophobic for Krista and I but the boys fixed that problem for us by using their belts to tie the top two bunks up to the wall fixture so it appeared like we had more room. We spent the first couple of hours playing cards, laughing, drinking and chit chatting before we decided to call it a night. We are expected to arrive in Hue at 8am on the 8th of Feb.

Until then, have a good night’s sleep and hope to hear from some of you soon…