Viet Nam and back again

Hey all

So, I was out of touch for the past two weeks as I was back in Viet Nam, with Bertrand.
We had a great trip, with only a few hassles, mostly because we didn't do much traveling within the country.

We arrived in Ha Noi on Saturday around lunch time, and took a taxi from the airport to the train station. The taxi driver tried to rip us off, as taxi drivers do in Ha Noi, by turning off the meter part way down the road, and then insisting it was broken. Eventually we got him to turn it back on, and then he took us to the bus station instead of the train station, and demanded we pay him more money than was on the meter. We offered him what was on the meter and no more, until he finally decided that was better than nothing. We went inside the station, surrounded by touts trying to get us on their buses, before we realized we were at the bus station, not the train station. Since everyone there was trying to sell us a bus ticket, they wouldn't tell us where the train station was. So we went outside and go in another cab, who drove up the road, past the train station, into a gas station to fill up, then down a road in a different direction. Luckily we'd noticed the train station sign (though not in time to stop him the first time) and managed to get him to go the right way. He laughed like it was all a mistake, but we were both pretty frustrated by this point. I think the most dishonest people in all of Viet Nam go to Ha Noi to be taxi drivers...

Finally we got to the train station, and bought tickets to Hai Phong - a port city that has ferries out to Cat Ba Island, in Ha Long Bay - our destination for week one. The tickets cost about $3 for a 2.5 hour trip. and we soon learned why. The train looked like it was originally built before the American war, and was used to transport cattle or prisoners. The windows are covered with metal screens, and though there are seats and fans, they look like they were installed more recently. Of course, even though our tickets had seat numbers on them, there were people in the seats, with the same tickets. So, we squeezed in and sat 3 on 2 seats for 2.5 hours.

Once in Hai Phong we took a taxi to a hotel for the night, as we were too late for the ferry. We went out to find food and decided to eat one of the baguette sandwiches made in a little street cart with some sort of meat paste. They are surprisingly tasty, but I don't think I'd want to know what the meat paste is made of...

The next morning we walked down to the ferry dock, and headed to Cat Ba. It was overcast but not rainy, and quite warm, so we headed to one of the beaches after checking into a nice, clean hotel ($14/night).

We spent the week rock climbing (if anyone wants to go to Halong Bay for Rock Climbing, check out www.slopony.com - they're the only legit/safe/knowledgeable climbing guides in the area), deep water soloing (bouldering - climbing without ropes - over the water, off kayaks), lying on the beach, and taking trips into the bay, fending off attacking monkeys, and other usual holiday pursuits.

On the Sunday, we took the bus-ferry-bus to Ha Noi, negotiated with a taxi driver who overcharged us, but not by too much after much haggling, and headed out to the airport to catch our flight to Da Nang, in central Viet Nam. We had looked on-line and found a place close to the beach, called Hoa's Place. It's listed in Lonely Planet, too, so we felt pretty confident about it. Well, let's just say that backpackers have pretty lax standards... it was cheap ($9 a night for the expensive air con rooms) and clean, but damp and musty smelling. The sheets and pillows all felt damp, and the shower in the first bathroom electrocuted me. When we switched rooms, the second shower had no water pressure at all, which actually diminished over the course of the week. But it was hot water, and it didn't electrocute me, so we were happy. The other thing people raved about Hoa's Place was the food, which was fine, but I've certainly had better spring roles in several places throughout Viet Nam, and the family dinners at night were good, but basic Vietnamese food. I have to wonder where the reviewers have been staying and what they have been eating to rave on about this place the way they did. I will say, however, that the banana pancakes (which were more like fritters/funnel cake) were fantastic. Anyway...

We spent a couple of days in Hoi An, the place famous for it's tailors, and for it's historical charm. Bertrand had a suit made, along with a couple of gifts for his mom and sister. I was very good, having had a whack of things made in the spring, and only had some satin pajama pants made. The restaurants in Hoi An are quite wonderful, so we had some nice meals in town, visited some of the historical buildings, wandered the charming streets, and bought some art and crafts.

We also gave surfing a try. There were waves, but they were "dirty, crumbly" waves according to Tim, our young American surfing teacher. He and his family have moved to Vietnam, but he learned to surf years ago in Virginia - he gave us some pointers for our first time out. Sadly, the waves were too powerful, we couldn't paddle out past them to the point where you can "catch a wave". I got soundly thrashed by the breakers, and Bertrand didn't do much better. He tried again on a few other days, and his third time out managed to catch a wave and do pretty well. I did manage to do some body surfing.

We visited the local sites, too. One day we went out to My Son - the site of one of the worst atrocities commited by the American soldiers during the War, in which they massacred the entire village from old grandfathers to babies in their cradles. However, nowadays it's more famous for the Cham ruins located near by - much like Angkor Wat, but smaller. But it's very peaceful, and you get to walk through jungle and over rivers, so it's a nice day out. Though it poured rain the day we were there.

Another day we went up to the Marble Mountains, which were handily right across the road from Hoa's Place. They're these weird limestone hills that rise out of the flat plains surrounding them, and are riddled with marble. A town that consists almost entirely of marble sculpture shops has risen up at the base of them, and in the hills themselves are all sorts of little temples, pagodas, caves and grottoes filled with Buddha statues. It was very peaceful and pretty, and in one cave there was an amazing effect of sunlight coming down through holes in the roof, through the incense so you could see the beams, and landing on a little house/altar they'd built inside the cave. It was a very Indiana Jones type moment (except for the 25 Vietnamese tourists running around, taking photos, and being all touristy).

Our last day, we hired the worst driver in Vietnam to take us in the worst car in Vietnam for a drive up the coast to the "Elephant Springs", which Lonely Planet described as a wonderful, off the beaten track, gem type place. I can only assume that when they wrote about it it was much different than now, or that the writer was taking some mad drugs. Anyway... the car could only go about 50 km/hr at top speed. I say "About" because the speedometer, like most parts of the ar, was broken, but we were being passed by every other vehicle on the road, including, as we went up the mountainsides, heavy-duty-trucks. Part of the problem was that driver-dude had no idea that one needed to gear down in order to go up. But, this was not the only thing driver-dude didn't know! he also had no idea where we were going - something we figured out when, casually looking at our map, I realized we were in a town almost 1/2 an hour further up the road than the elephant springs. So we got him to pull over an ask for directions, which confirmed it was back the way we came, so we turned around and headed back. He found the sign, turned off the main road, and we bumped and bounced down a back country lane for another 1/2 an hour or so (off the beaten track, check). When we got to the springs, however, the "Elephant" was a rather crappy cement creation, not even slightly natural looking, the springs were actually a river (a nice river, but not springs) and the riverbank was lined with falling down shacks made of bamboo and blue tarpaulin which were meant to be shelters for people to sit in the shade. We were both rather disappointed, especially after such a long drive. But we hiked a little way off on our own and found a private spot with no shacks, and a deep pool for swimming, and had a nice time in the end. Then it began pouring rain again (most of the week in Da Nang was rainy), so we headed back for dinner.

So that was the trip. We spent a rainy day at the hotel, as Bertrand was sick and slept all day, so I read and drank tea... And now that we're back, I have the cold (hope it's not Avian Flu!!!) (or Dengue Fever!!!) (or Malaria!!!) (or Typhoid!!!)

What have you guys been up to?