I arrived in Hanoi, North Vietnam by taking a
12-hour sleeper train from Hue; thinking that would be better than the bus.
Well - maybe I did have a little bit more room but it was an old musty train
that made alot of noise and was much bumpier than the bus. I tried to think
that I was being rocked to sleep but it was more like being shaken to sleep. I
shared my cabin with three Vietnamese men and tried not to think about how many
people have laid on my sheets & blankets. I really wonder how often they
wash the bed linens! People are getting on & off all the time, so as soon
as one person gets out of the bed it is filled with another person. Uugh! The
joys of traveling. But really, actually I have been really lucky and haven't
had any unbearable moments! I hope to keep it going that way.
Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam and another very
busy city with a nice lake (Hoan Kiem) in the centre of the city. You have to
be very careful here with the taxi & cyclo drivers because there are a lot
of them taking advantage of the tourists. I was well prepared from reading
about it online and in the guidebooks but I talked to several travelers that
got scammed. I mainly used it as a home base to do tours to Halong Bay and
Sapa. Hanoi is also famous for the Water Puppet Theatre. Water puppetry
originated here in the Red River Delta area when the floods came. The puppets
dance on the water and tell stories about rural life and historic events.
Instead of the puppets being manipulated at the top with strings, these are
controlled underneath the water with long poles that you can’t see. It was
really pretty cool!
Halong Bay was breathtaking. It is a body of
emerald green water with 1,969 limestone islands all different sizes and
shapes. Some of the islands have magnificent caves. The one we were able to go
thorough was called Surprise Cave. The locals are not allowed to live on the
islands because it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site so they live on floating
fishing villages around them. It is quite a different lifestyle! Some of them
even had dogs on their little floating house, which really is a small shack
floating on bamboo.
I stayed one night on a houseboat and another night
on Cat Ba Island. The first day was very misty but magical and mysterious. The next day woke up to a beautiful day
of sunshine. We cruised for about an hour through many spectacular small
islands and then went biking on Cat Ba Island and later took a small boat to
Monkey Island. This is a small island with a nice beach and a good hike up to a
viewpoint. And yes, there are monkeys! I wonder how they ended up on a island
surrounded by water?? And be careful, when swimming they might run off with
your stuff. I had met an Australian family and we were swimming and all of a
sudden Hunter, their 10 year old son, said “Tracy, there’s a monkey trying to
get your bag!” So we all ran up to shore and chased it away. Luckily, I had
locked it. Because that is what the monkey was trying to do – was open my bag.
Whew!!
Next, I went back to Hanoi and rested for a day
then took the night train to Lao Cai, where you then drive for an hour to get
to Sapa. Yes, I did do the train
again but this time I was on a tour package and they use a nicer tourist
train. And it was nicer with clean
bedding but I still wasn’t able to sleep much. We arrived at 6:00 in the
morning, boarded a mini-bus for an hour ride up the mountain, had breakfast and
started hiking by 9:30 am. We hiked about 6 to 7 miles the first day and another 3 to 4
the next day. It was so beautiful hiking amongst all the terraced rice fields
and bamboo forests. We went thru many minority villages, one being the Black
Hmong and stayed overnight in a home stay in one of the villages. It was a
stilt house with a large loft with mattresses on the floor and a mosquito net.
The Hmong women (some very young) would hike all day with us talking, laughing,
and helping us along the trail; which tended to be quite muddy in areas. They
actually spoke English very well, better than a lot of the Vietnamese people in
the city. They could even crack jokes; which is hard to do in a second
language. I had a shadow for both days showing me where to step and holding my
hand on steep parts. It was funny how when we stopped at resting points and started
out again, she would always end up right by my side. Then at the end of the
day, they want you to buy their goods (handmade bags, bracelets, headbands,
shirts). They would say, “I walk with you, help you. You buy from me now, then
I go home for dinner.” The Black Hmong migrated from China over 300 years ago.
Most of the women marry between the ages of 12 and 15. If they are married,
they wear large silver hoop earrings. The tradition is when a man finds a girl
he likes and wants as his wife; he kidnaps her. He keeps her in his house for
three days and after the three days the girl will decide to stay or if she is
unhappy will go out into the forest and find the poisonous flower to eat and
take her life. The government has now made this illegal that after the three
days she is allowed to go back to her home if she is unhappy. However, within
the last month a girl was found who ate the poisonous flower but luckily she
was found in time and did not die. It was a really nice two days but towards
the end of both days my knees were giving out. My knees don't like going
downhill. I am a little disappointed because I am wanting to do more trekking
in Laos & Thailand, but now I don't know if I should.
After my second day of hiking, I took the night
train back to Hanoi and one day to relax and then off to Laos. I decided to fly
because the route the bus takes is very long and then I would have to back
track, so I am go to fly straight to Luang Prabang.
Wow! I forgot how luxurious it was to fly.
It was an hour flight compared to a 20-hour bus ride. It was well worth the
extra expense. Luang Prabang is very nice. It's a small, quiet country town
with lots of Buddhist temples and monasteries to visit. Whew! I am really worn
out. I am going to take it easy for a few days and try to get rested up. I even
found a little coffee shop that served bagel sandwiches. I thought it was
appropriate to have a ham, cheese, tomato, lettuce, and the best cream cheese
since it was Easter and a large ice tea. It was soo good! Tonight I had dinner
along the Mekong River at sunset and had a very delicious Lao dish that was a
Mekong fish & vegetables in coconut milk. Tomorrow I will visit alot of the
wats (temples) and ride around town a little more on a bicycle. Oh yeah, I know
longer have to fear for my life while crossing the street or even walking on
the sidewalk!
