Last day

We had an early breakfast and then had a car and driver take us to the airport.  The hotel staff and Little Hanoi Deluxe hotel were so great. They had only been open 2 weeks so were trying so hard to get everything right. This picture is Henry , the hotel manager and Na, whose calls herself Daisy. She was training to be assistant manager. She said she would remember us because we were the first people she dealt with at the hotel. We really loved our stay there.  Off to the airport in the rain but it's warm and humid  We hope this will help our long trip We can't believe how quickly this trip has gone...hard to believe it has been 32 days. We have seen incredible places and experienced so many new things. The people in both Cambodia and Vietnam have been friendly and full of smiles even in harsh conditions. We have been acutely aware of how fortunate we are. The noise, dirt and smog will not be soon forgotten. But more the will and drive of the people. And of course the traffic....motorcycles, scooters in Vietnam and tuk tuks in Cambodia. We loved the Khmer food in Cambodia and some of the Vietnamese food....coffee, croissants, spring rolls and fruit. But not so much the every day fare as it was not as spiced as we like and much cooked in oil. The weather was somewhat disappointing. We had 2 weeks of extreme heat and humidity then 2 weeks of drizzle. The wet weather had us change our plans at the end....only 2 days in Sapa and no 3 day beach at Cat Be island. Although it wasn't quite as planned we didn't let it stop us from continuing to explore and enjoy.  Home safe and sound now.... 20 1/2 hrs. door to door. Already talking about what will be our next adventure 😍 ???? 

March 12

After breakfast we went to buy tickets for the water puppet show. There was only one time left so we took it. We walked to the Women's Museum. It was really fascinating !!! An entire building, four floors with exhibits and information about the roles of women in the different tribes. There was an amazing photographic display of women taken by Rehannan..a renowned photographer.  We knew about betel from visiting the tribes in Sapa ... But we were unfamiliar with the concept of laquering teeth  Then we walked to the Hoa Lo prison.....also referred to as the Hanoi Hilton. It was first used by the French to confine dissidents. And later for the POW from the Vietnam War. John McCain was there for 5 years.  A guillotine  On our way back with stopped for some Pho...still not my favourite but better with the limes and chili peppers. On to the water puppet theater. Water puppetry is a tradition that dates back as far as the 11th century when it originated in the villages of the Red River Delta area of Vietnam.  The puppets are made out of wood and then lacquered. The shows are performed in a waist-deep pool. A large bamboo rod supports the puppet under the water and is used by the puppeteers, who are hidden behind a screen, to control them. Thus the puppets appear to be moving over the water. When the rice fields would flood, the villagers would entertain each other using this form of puppet play. For dinner we tried Bun Cha.  It consists of cold rice noodles to which you add a hot pork mixture and top with lettuce, mint and herbs.  We decided to do one last walk of the night market to stave off the restlessness. It poured rain....torrential !!!  This lady was cooking chicken skewers on an open fire...fanning it to keep the flames going.  The last treat....a famous Vietnamese dessert. Starts with a huge cup of cut up fresh fruit,  A tequila nightcap then to bed for our last night in Hanoi. 

March 11

Up early to catch the bus to Ninh Binh for our day tour. The bus ride was 2 hours and again it was raining.  First we went to Bia Dinh temple. It is a complex of Buddhist temples on Bai Dinh Mountain. The compound consists of the original old temple and a newly created larger temple. It is considered the largest complex of Buddhist temples in Vietnam and has become a popular site for Buddhist pilgrimages. In the centre of this temple is a bronze Buddha Sykamuni statue, covered with gold,  which is 10 meters high and weighs 100 tons. It is certificated as the biggest statue in Vietnam.  Also at the site was the female buddha. Equally as large and impressive. It is said that even though she was a princess she was dedicated to follow Buddhism. Her father was a tyrant and tried to get her married but she refused. Many monks were killed because they were not able to get her to marry them. Her father got a terrible disease and in order to save his life she gave him her hand and an eye. Then she was forever given many hands and eyes to help the people. It was a very serene place. Next was Trang An...which the people call "Halong Bay inland " It is now a Unesco World Heritage site. It is a spectacular landscape of limestone peaks and valleys, many of them partly submerged and surrounded by steep, almost vertical cliffs. On the tour we went through 8 waterway grotto tunnels that were very narrow and low. The ladies who take you out in the boat, rowing for 2 hours. And we found out later that they get paid $7 US per boat. In peak season they can do 2-3 trips a day. A hard way to make a living.  The scenery was great but would have been spectacular if it had not been raining 😟 When we got back we were tired, it was raining and my sore throat was worse, so we wandered around the lake. Then Ron got his banh mi, I got some fruit and yogurt and we picked up a bottle of wine. Dinner in the room 😍

Vietnam Sidebar

We learned that the lady vendors selling fruits or pastries etc. carrying them on their shoulders get up at 4 am and walk the streets until they have sold everything, which is usually around 8 pm. They do this 7 days a week and it takes 10-12 days to make $20. To sleep, eight ladies share one room which cost 35 cents each. They go home to visit their husbands, and children only every few months. The money they earn in the city helps buy supplies for crops to feed their families in the country.  In the countryside If a man wants to marry a woman he takes a water buffalo to the front of her hut. If she accepts she moves the buffalo to the back. If not, he can come and retrieve it. Many boys get a baby buffalo when they are young. They raise them as working pets but also to prepare for marriage.  After the Vietnam war only 5 % were literate because no one could go to school ...they were fighting the war. Some government taxes go to pay back loans that were given to Vietnam to help support the war. Vietnam was a poor country with no munitions.  85% of Vietnamese are Buddhists of varying degrees.  Weddings in the country have about 1000 people invited. Gifts given are usually $100 US so they call it a "friend's saving account" because you get when you marry but you need to give when you go to a friend's wedding.  Houses are 3 meters wide and can be 6 meters long. The more floors you have, the richer you are.  If you are caught with heroin you go to jail and they kill you with cobra venom. They believe in a life for a life in sentencing.  The police are corrupt. We saw many times they pulled cars over for no apparent reason. You need to pay off the police to keep going. If you get caught for anything they ask you how you want to pay. If you say "fast" you give $10 in the pocket of the police and they let you go. If you say "slow" they will confiscate your car and you need to go to court. It takes days and costs more money to get your car back.  The highway on the way to Halong Bay is nicknamed ladies highway. That is because during the war there were no men as everyone volunteered or was conscripted. Women set up food stalls along the highway. The war lasted 20 years so the women could be in their 40's with no husband or child by the time the war was over. They were worried about who would take care of them when they were old. So they tried to get pregnant with drivers when they stopped for food. It was well accepted and many drivers had many children but there were no strings attached. The women took care of their own kids.  When someone dies the funeral lasts for 3 days. Each family has a plot in the village cemetery so depending on the village size they can have 50-100 plots. These cemeteries are built above ground and are ornate. After 3 years the bones are dug up and taken to the a shrine in the home. The plot is reused. Every year on the "death day" there is a celebration.  Many people feel their lives are improving in Vietnam but no one likes the political system because there is only one party. There are elections every 5 years but the people get to vote only for the person running and not the party. 

March 10

The day started off quite dreary again so we decided to walk to the Ethnology Museum. It took us 2 hrs, which we knew. But the walk was not pleasant as we were on busy streets with lots of traffic.  The museum was very informative with a huge building with explanations and artifacts. And outside there were exhibits of houses that were reconstructed by native tribes. The museum focuses on the 54 officially recognised ethnic groups in Vietnam.  A pizza place was recommended to us for dinner...Pizza4p. It didn't disappoint. Delicious !! And I got a salad ....yeah I still have my bad sore throat so we didn't go to the night market again but just walked around the lake. 

March 9

We went down for breakfast. It was so unnerving. The folks here are so anxious to please and want their guests to be happy so we had 3 staff standing watching us eat and jumping to get us anything every time we moved. The food was great and the staff were trying so hard. It was drizzly and a little cold but we decided to head out and just wander. After many attempts to find the area again, we finally got to the "shoe street". Ron and I both bought a pair of Nikes. It is difficult to negotiate when the sellers are not interested and mostly spend all their time on the phone. When we were walking the streets we found and bought a wood carved buddha with a happy face. And Ron got a North Face down vest. We came back to the hotel to warm up. Then out again to take a picture of the Long Bien Bridge. It used to be a train bridge but now is exclusively for motor scooters and brave pedestrians. The bridge was built in 1899-1902 by the same people who built the Eiffel Tower.  It's 1.68 kilometres in length, and it was, at that time, one of the longest bridges in Asia. The bridge was heavily bombarded during Vietnam War due to its critical position, as the only bridge at that time across the Red River connecting Hanoi to the main port of Haiphong.  We had a quick drink on a deck that looked over a busy road. Great observation of the chaos of traffic and pedestrians.  Dinner was at a place that had Vietnamese and Western food. I had a great chicken and mango salad. Yeah !!! Finally some greens that were hot cooked 😊

March 8

Not much sleep..not sure why. The bed and pillow were comfortable and a king bed. I was just restless 😟 Up to pack and for breakfast, which was a wonderful buffet. And of course the thick Vietnamese coffee. The manager presented each woman staying there with a rose for woman's day, which it turned out is an important day in Vietnam. We met our pre arranged tour guide Su Linh at 9:00 and started our trek. She spoke fantastic English.  We walked 12 km to her village. Three of her friends joined us part way and we were really happy they had. The road and the path were so treacherous with wet clay from the fog. The extra people helped me through the horrid parts, which was most of it. Su explained what we saw as we walked but sadly we couldn't see much. So she talked a lot about her life living in her village. She was married to a "good man" but she was not accepted by his family who lived next door. She had been saving her guiding money and bought some expensive wood to start building a house. Unbelievably the day before we were with her someone had stolen 2 pieces. She was very upset and sad to think that someone had done that to her. The cost of the pieces she lost was $1500 US. That would take years for her to save that much.  Gow, Sunny, My and Su on the trail...which is really a clay quagmire goat path.  They were all very helpful. Su tried to explain more about why it is important for Hmong women to have their own business. In Hmong society in Asia, males tend to hold more public and social power than females. From birth, Hmong females are seen as ‘belonging to their husband’s families’ because when women get married they must leave their birth family to live the rest of their lives with their husbands and in-laws and join his ancestral clan and derive her identity from that. Therefore, Hmong girls and women in Sapa face a number of hardships and setbacks just because of their gender. According to custom, only men can inherit precious farm land from their parents, so women’s right to land depends heavily on their marital status. Girls are often discouraged over boys from completing primary or secondary schooling and have very high rates of illiteracy. Yet, even so, many Hmong girls have taught themselves near-fluent English . Su's tribe the Black H'mong are the largest in the area with 2,500 people.  A break in the trek for some sugar cane  The women wear traditional dress every day, not just for tourists but the men only on special occasions. Her grandmother on her fathers side is 102 and is the village shaman. Su was telling us that her family is learning about the medicinal herbs her grandmother uses but none of them will inherit the shaman position because it is gifted from a spirit.  We stopped at her village for lunch, which was included. Then we visited her other grandmother's hut to see weaving and the indigo dyeing process. She asked us if we would like to visit her family and of course we said yes. Her boys go to school but they had the afternoon off for woman's day. We walked another 3 km through the slippery clay goat trail to her place.  Su is 24 and was married at 18....which is late for her tribe. Some marry as young as 13. She has 2 boys, Chong 6 and John 4. Their home is a small dirt floor hut 20 x 20 with a small room with a door which is where they all sleep. There is no power and they have a hole dug in the floor that they build a fire in to cook and keep warm. The walls have many holes and the wind, rain and the chickens come in. We sat at a tiny little table and she gave us some tea in what I think were teacups that came from a dolls set. And they were chipped but she proudly poured us the hot drink. She was telling us that in the winter the kids run out of clothes because they wash them by hand and they won't dry outside. Of course there was no toilet and I can't image how cold it must be to live in this house in the winter. It broke my heart ☹️ But the kids were happy and she was always smiling and cheerful. She was using some of her guiding money to send the boys to the village school and she was teaching them English. We fell in love with her and her initiative.  But we couldn't stop thinking and feeling very sad about her overwhelming adversities.  We really enjoyed our 5 hrs with Su and learned a lot. Even though it was a really horrible wet day it was special. The countryside that we were able to see was unbelievable. And once again I couldn't help but think how beautiful it would be in the sun.  Women planting beans and corn  It was cold and all the little ones had a lot of clothes on. And because there was no washing or running water many people and kids were dirty. But they didn't seem to mind. A lady and her son from another tribe. We had a choice between a taxi....of sorts...or a motorcycle to get back to Sapa. On the road it was only 10 km so we thought how bad can it be???? we'll take an adventure on the back of a motorcycle. OMG...that was one scary experience!!!! It was so foggy in parts the driver couldn't see anyone coming or anyone in front. And it was sooooo slippery and potholed. And the fog was so thick that we were both soaking wet. But we miraculously made it back...soaked and dirty but with one hell of a story. When we got back to the hotel to pick up our luggage we were soaked and so muddy/dirty. The people at the hotel greeted us and took our running shoes. They offered us a room with a shower to tidy up. When we came out they had warm cinnamon tea and had washed and dried our shoes so they looked better than when we got there. Now that's service. 😍 We hoped on the bus for our 5 1/2 hrs back to Hanoi. Unbelievably when we made our first pee stop I ran into Stephanie from our Halong Bay boat trip. What are the odds of that???? Lol

March 7

We were up early to catch the bus at 6:30 for Sapa. It was raining when we left Hanoi. The trip took 5 1/2 hrs with two pee stops. Once we got off the highway and the last part to Sapa took about an hr. It was quite harrowing with a narrow windy road, large buses and trucks, cars and motorbikes. There were either none or very small rail guards. And just after we headed up the mountain the fog was in and out which made it even more nerve wracking.  By the time we got to Sapa it was so foggy we couldn't see any landmarks to figure out where our hotel was. We wandered along a few streets, right up to the restaurant doors to try and get an idea of where we were. It was frustrating because the fog also made it cold and wet.  After about a half hour we finally hit the right street but still had to walk nearly to the door to see the name. Ron finally found a landmark....the stone church  The hotel was fantastic. We had a great room and the people were so welcoming. They couldn't do enough for us. We decided to explore the town. The fog was drifting in and out from horrendously thick to you could see 50 meters. But now we had a map so felt a little more confident. We were still cold and wet but we found a funky bar....we were the only ones in it. Tequila it was to try and warm ourselves a bit.  We went to the local market where we saw the patterns from one of the local tribe clothes for sale. They are amazingly colourful. I was tempted to buy something but fought the urge. After a bit of rest and warm up in the hotel we went for dinner. They had 2 for 1 drinks and I had the most "interesting" mojito I had ever had...made with lemons and lemon cordial with a few mint leaves on top. And an equally perplexing chicken sandwich...lol