Whirlwind Vietnam

First of all, I want it noted how hard I just worked to resist the urge to title this post "Good Morning, Vietnam". Or even "Good Morning, Saigon". Or "Good Morning" anything, for that matter.

Enough self-congratulation.

Since my last post, I have spent a few days in frenetic Hanoi, taken a 2-day trip to Halong Bay (about a 3 hour drive north of Hanoi), taken an overnight train to Hoi An in central Vietnam, and
flown to Saigon (where I arrived last night).


Halong Bay was interesting. It truly deserves its fame and UNESCO World Heritage Site status - it's one of the most beautiful and otherworldly places I've seen. It was almost work to be there, because I found I had to keep reminding myself that yes, this actually does exist and no, I'm not just looking at reeeeeeeeeeally big postcards in every direction. The waters are crystal blue and the gray limestone cliffs and islands come jut skyward as if the sea floor was reaching fingers out of the water.

Unfortunately (and I had been warned of this), Halong Bay has genuinely suffered from its own beauty. The place feels like an assembly line. The only way one can get out into the bay is by booking a tour through an agency in Hanoi, and once arriving at the bay it feels like a tour-assembly-line. It was all about "hurry up and wait" - you're hustled onto a (actually surprisingly nice) junk, and ferried like schoolchildren to See The Giant Limestone Cave!, Have an Authentic Vietnamese Seafood Lunch!, Kayak for One Hour Around the Islands!, See Thumb Island!, Go For a Swim!. It's honestly obnoxious - there's no room for creativity and minimal exploration.

To be fair, however, I'll honestly say that the hour spent in a kayak made the trip worthwhile. We were hurried off the boat at Place To Go Kayaking, only to be told that the 8 specific kayaks our company rents were actually being used, so we'd have to sit and wait for a half hour. We were all a little miffed, but it wound up working out in our benefit: we got to be in the kayaks - at sea-level, alone - for sunset. It was phenomenal. My kayak-mate, Greg, and I paddled away from the boats and posted ourselves against one of the islands in a spot where we could watch the sun fall behind dozens of islands in the distance. It was again a moment when I found myself needing to be reminded that this was actually real and those islands are not just cardboard cut-outs in middle-distance. Wow.
Naturally I didn't bring my camera with me on the kayak, but Greg has promised to send along some of his photos.

Yup, it really is that pretty.

They call this "Thumb Island". I really couldn't figure out why, but I thought it was cool and worthy of a thumbs-up.

That's me, and that's Halong Bay.

Did I mention that it really is that pretty?

After Halong Bay, I spent another full day in Hanoi, which I spent visiting Ho Chi Minh's Masoleum and the mostly wandering around (my favorite pastime in new cities). Ho Chi Minh's Masoleum was.... remarkable. The official reverence for this man is like nothing else I've experienced. Despite his will requiring his remains to be cremated, after Ho Chi Minh's death, his body was embalmed and is forever on display in his masoleum in the middle of Hanoi. The line to get into the massive structure was daunting, and I'm pretty sure there was more security than at the airport. No cameras allowed. Or shorts. Or phones. Or water. Or flash-lights.
After shuffling forward in line for a solid 45 minutes, I had the singular honor of continuing to shuffle past three sides of an open glass case containing THE MAN.
I know how important he is in Vietnam, but wow it was hard not to laugh at the over-the-top pomp of it all. I was immensely relieved to hear a few stiffled sniggers from a Vietnamese couple next to me.

After making my way through the actual masoleum, I had the pleasure of visiting such noteworthy sites as Ho Chi Minhs office - preserved as he left it! Complete with Ho Chi Minh's Desk! Ho Chi Minh's Alarm Clock! Small Crumbs from Ho Chi Minh's Cookie! (ok, made that last one up).

Ho Chi Minh makes me feel like this!

After the day of visiting modern mummies and further exploring Hanoi's anachronistic streets:


I boarded a night-train to Da Nang at 11:00pm. Following advice, I had bought a ticket for the nicest car available: the "soft sleeper". This consists of a room about the size of 2 broom closets with 2 stacks of 2 bunk beds, and a desk. In my exhaustion I was a bit underwhelmed... until I slept like a drugged baby (the rocking of a train is officially the BEST sleep-aid) and saw the next morning what the alternatives were: the "hard sleeper"'s 2 stacks of 3 beds (that's 6 people in a double-wide broom closet) and the "hard seat"'s open car jam-packed with as many bus-like seats as possible.
The view from the train as we approached central Vietnam in the morning was phenomenal - it began with rice paddies tended by cone-hat-wearing, indigo-clothed, water-buffalo-leading locals (again: "this is not a postcard, Daniel") and ended with pristine and vacant white-sand beaches against deep blue sea.


Hoi An, another UNESCO World Heritage Site, is also postcard-iconic. It manages to perfect a symbiosis of Francophilia and Vietnamism (I love making up words): mildly decayed French colonial architecture neighbors several-century old Chinese-style housing, which both border a river paced by old Vietnamese men in colorful row-boats. Wow. Another place where I found the best and most enjoyable way to spend time was simply walking, walking, walking.


And now here I am, in Saigon! In my near future is an umpteenth cup of delicious-in-a-different-sorta-way Vietnamese coffee and a day and a half of wandering a new city. Woo!

In Hanoi. I just thought this was cute. And no, that beer does not belong to the little girl.

Can somebody please, PLEASE, tell me what has happened to these dogs? They were attached at the rear. I'm not joking. It was the wierdest thing I've ever seen.