OK, so we left our intrepid travelers heading for Hoi An, where it rained for 6 days straight. Still, some good times were had. Our 2nd night in Hoi An was the half-month celebration and Hoi An was decorated with thousands of paper lanterns, with crowds wandering up and down the main streets, old women selling floating candles (just cardboard boxes with candles, really) which we lit to remember family members. We took a 20 minute boat ride on the dark river with hundreds of others riding in similar boats paddled by local men and women looking for tips.
We were staying at An Bang beach, supposedly a very nice beach community -- in Summer! I had planned a beach stay in the Winter. Not my best planning. We had a room in a "homestay" which is a step down from a hotel, but our host, Kim, was absolutely wonderful. Breakfast was included and the price was right - $20/day.
Hoi An at Night
Kim's Homestay Space - Very Nice
We took a fun cooking class where we made rice pancakes, spring rolls, dipping sauce, and beef noodle soup. Included was a trip to the class via round boats, which are traditional to the area. The origins of the coracles, or "basket boats" is that the French decided to tax regular boats, so the ingenious Vietnamese fishermen developed a round woven fiber boat that passed as a basket and was not taxed. The boats stayed popular because they were difficult to tip over and could be easily launched from a beach instead of needing a dock or ramp to enter the water.
The paddling pattern to keep the round boats moving in a (relatively) straight line is complicated but our older woman paddler was pretty competent. If you want to see a video of a man "dancing" in one of the round boats check out Susan's FB page. It's fun.
Then we had our cooking class which lasted about 3 hours and gave us a sense of how the basic Vietnamese food is made. Let me just say that it includes a lot of rice. Noodles, rice paper, regular rice...endless variations on rice. Our instructor showed us that Vietnamese food uses sugar more liberally than we expected -- most every step involved adding a small spoonful of sugar.
We actually made these! And they were delicious. We had lots of assistance but the class did give a sense of how we might approach making some Vietnamese specialties when we are back home.
We also visited the My Son ruins as part of a day tour. The Temples were built by succeeding generations of Hindu kings dating from the 4th through the 14th century AD (or CE if you want to be politically correct). Interesting construction of bricks with no mortar, lots of symbolism. Many of the temples had been destroyed or badly damaged by our bombing. The bomb craters were all over the landscape.
My Son Temple
The guide told us that these temples are actually older than those at Ankor Wat.
So after the temple tour we ended up at a local woman's house where once again we made rice pancakes with the tour group. And then we hopped on the bus and went to another family's home where they served us lunch. We see this in most tours -- the inclusion of local activities to share some of the tour dollars with local entrepreneurs. It can be a bit kitschy but we have mostly enjoyed the extras and it can give us another window into the culture.
Other highlights of Hoi An were (1) Banh Mi
Phuong - a restaurant made famous by Anthony Bourdain's visit. I gotta say, the banh mi was still spectacular. We went back twice! (2) The last night wandering around we found a music venue with a young (early 20's ?) Vietnamese band. The lead singer could really sing and the band was good!
It is absurd that two folks as old as we are had such a good time listening to a bunch of kids play American covers.
HANOI
So we had a choice with all the rain in Hoi An: head south to Phu Quoc for beaches and hopefully better weather. Or head north to Hanoi and extend our stay there by 3-4 days. We had planned to go to Hue and Danang from Hoi An but the rain just would not let up. So we went to Hanoi for 9 days. We connected with Church Travel which scheduled 7 of our days and our hotels. And then the whirlwind started - up early each day. headed to another destination.
The first was Ha Long Bay where after a 4 hour bus ride we hopped on a cruise boat for an overnight tour. The attraction of Ha Long Bay starts with hundreds of limestone karsts rising 50+ feet out of the water as you glide past. Eerie and beautiful. (This is the place where I have tried to insert photos of the Ha Long Bay Cruise and the karsts - I suspect the length of this post is preventing addtionol photo uploads. Will post more photos separartely.)
And the first afternoon they took us to "Surprise Cave" which was huge. The next morning we were on the deck at 6:15 a.m. to do Tai Chi with a young crew member who is a Tai Chi master. HIs movements were so precise and composed that there was a sense of serenity and beauty as the sun rose and we were in this magical place of Ha Long Bay. Later that morning we kayaked for about 45 minutes through a cave into a hidden lagoon. It was quite beautiful and we saw a lot of monkeys whose main activity was fighting amonst themselves as they scrambled after the food offerings of the kayakers.
The we headed back to our hotel and got up at 5:30 a.m. the next morning for a 6 hour "sleeper" bus ride to Sapa, 250 miles north of Hanoi. Sleeper buses are interesting - and not a bad was to go. We got there around 1:00 p.m., had a quick lunch, and then headed off with Mama Chi and a few of her tribal friends for our "trek". At first we were just walking in the town but eventually got into more rural areas. Not beautiful but instructive as to how and where these people live. After three hours of walking with these women we truly felt a connection. They are poor people who are proud of their heritage. They are quite clear that they are not Vietnamese. And they are warm, kind people. Frankly, I enjoyed feeling tall among these folks. Or at least average height.
It is hard to describe how different Sapa felt from Hanoi. Fewer motorbikes, colder, somehow a mountain town not unlike some of the small Colorado towns we have been to, But very foreign with unanswered questions everywhere as we walked through town. The barriers of language and culture are hard to cut through when you are a tourist.
The next day we took the cable car up to Fansipan - a buddhist installation on the top of a 10,0000 foot hight mountain. Lots of steps, and yes, we felt the altitude. This is apparenlty a private development and a source of pride to all the Vietnamese for the achievement of putting multiple pagodas, restaurants, observations towers, and a huge Buddha on top of such an inaccessible place. Lots of red flags with yellow stars and commentary on the sign boards extolling the intelligence and determination of the Vietnamese people.
Again, the narrative calls for photos and it appears I have exceeded some limit and cannot download futher photos. So, I will end here and put out a quick post soon with photos of this part of the trip.
Merry Christmas, Happy Channukah, Happy Kwanzaa -- whatever it is you celebrate, we wish you warm and happy holidays with people you love and who love you. We are celebrating the holidaysin Phuket (beach town in Thailand) but our hearts are with our famil and friends.
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