March 17, 2011

Another night bus under the belt..... and yep they still suck. The good news is we were able to book the back seats so we could stretch out, we had four seats to ourselves. The bad news is the road was rough as hell and as usual the driver insisted on honking the horn every 10 seconds...and to make the ride even better the Vietnamese haven't seemed to master the art of soft braking or gentle accelerating. Every time this happened we would slide all over the seats like we were sleeping on a slip and slide. 

13 hrs later we arrived safely in Hoi An!

Hoi An was definitely a breath of fresh air and a great place to spend the next four days. We stayed within the old quarter which was established 150 yrs ago as an international trading port. Not only is the old town steeped with tradition, it is also the best place in the country to get custom made clothing. The city is very pedestrian friendly, completely opposite to the rest of Vietnam, so we rented bikes and spent the next four days cycling around with no agenda at all. The streets are lined with old French style buildings filled with tailoring shops or art galleries, Chinese lanterns hang from the trees, some roads are closed to motorized vehicles and music plays into the bustling streets to lull the pace of the town. A very romantic ambience.
A couple that we had met in Thailand, recommended the tailor that they used so we headed there to see what we could get made. Rye had printed off a bunch of dress pictures from the internet and within an hour, had chosen the material and been measured up for 5 of them. While I was watching all of this, I decided that I might get a suit made. The women who ran the store were amazing. They could honestly make anything that you wanted and not only that, but they had 5 dresses, 2 winter coats, a three piece suit and four dress shirts ready for our first fitting in less than a day. A few minor adjustments later and we walked out of there with the above bounty, all custom tailored for us. 

With recharged batteries we continued our northern journey and hopped on a train to Hue. The three hour train ride is considered one of the most breathtaking sections of the Vietnamese railway and while the bus would have been faster, the train was an excursion we were glad not to have missed. For three hours the train snaked through fields of rice paddies, and jungle-filled mountains high above the coast on the Gulf of Tonkin.

We spent the next two days in the city of Hue, one of the Vietnams cultural centers with history dating back to the early 1700's. It also saw some of the fiercest fighting during the Vietnam war given its proximity to the demilitarized zone.
 
We visited the Citadel, a former imperial city,which was used to house the emperor and royal family. Due to the heavy bombing during the war, much of the city was destroyed and for years after the war this treasure was left to slowly disintegrate. Recently the Citadel was deemed a Unesco World Heritage site and has since has seen some major restoration work. 

A quick 12 hr night bus later, we arrived in the small city of Ninh Binh. The bus ride was surprisingly painless in comparison to the previous ones so I'm sure to everyones disappointment we have no horror stories to report... thank god... We were due for a good one.

We had stopped in Ninh Binh to visit a place called Tam Coc, which is described as Halong Bay among the rice fields.  In true Rye and Q fashion, we passed on the organized tours and found our own way to the site. We rented a scooter but were stopped only a few blocks away....out of fuel (not surprisingly as owners siphon the remaining gas out of rental scooters to put in their own bikes). We pushed the scooter back to our guesthouse where they luckily had a pop bottle of petrol that we bought........so off again. Well this scooter was a real gem. The fuel filter was so plugged up that it felt like something running with the choke on, lunging forward, unable to fully accelerate. With our prime piece of Vietnamese craftsmanship, with a top speed of 20 km/hr, we made our way to Tam Coc 12 km away. The best way to see this area is to have a local paddle you around so we went to the wharf and hopped in a small boat. For the 2 hrs we were paddled through rice fields around limestone spires and through caves. The whole experience was incredible until we got to the half-way point....

At the turn around point there are boats with local woman selling drinks and snacks so rye decided to buy a pineapple. The lady proceeded to hand us a beer and cookies saying that our driver was tired and thirsty from rowing us around. Caught a little off guard we looked at the driver who was nodding "yes" so we bought him a drink and cookies no problem right?.... Well they were a little pricy, which wasn't the issue, but what really pissed us off was that we later found out that the drivers don't eat or drink the snacks but instead give them back to the ladies, split the profit and sell them again the next day. We found this out after we were finished the boat trip but what put us over the top was when he was just about to drop us off he turned and said "tip, tip?" I must add that even though we bought the snacks for him we had decided to give him a tip, an exceedingly generous one at that as we had no smaller change, but had he actually just asked for a tip?... we were a little shocked but disgruntingly handed him the money. Once we were off the boat we replayed the events of the entire afternoon. 
I guess we are use to Canada where no one would dare ask for a tip especially after being bought a drink and snack. Now it most certainly isn't the money by any means, it's the principle. Live and learn I guess.

To top off our day, the ride home on the scooter was even more interesting. Picture this... 2 tourists on a scooter at a busy intersection, among hundreds of locals seemingly fed up with our amateur scooter skills. Riley walks across the intersection for fear of not making it on the scooter, while Q rides the bike, determined to get it to work. The scooter periodically lurches forward and eventually crosses the halfway point of the intersection when it stalls completely. Q is able to use his momentum and the slight down hill grade of the road to coast the remaining distance while Riley safely watches from the sidewalk. Amazingly, Q refrains from ripping off his helmet
and throwing it, but the look on his face was priceless.

After those two days in Ninh Binh we again headed north in search of better weather and rejuvenated spirits. Although every guesthouse and restaurant sell Halong Bay packages we decided we would try to piece this one together and get there on our own. Another bus ride later we arrived in Haiphong, a very large working city with very little in the way of visitor infrastructure. We had planned to stay the night and try to get things sorted out for the boat trip to Halong Bay, but after walking around for what felt like hours looking for a place to stay with little to no luck (every place listed in the guide book was out of business) we headed to the pier. A couple of hours later we were boarding a boat to the island of Cat Ba within Halong Bay. 
The boat was in the same class as the Tongan ferry and with the continuing rain proved to be a long, wet three hours. The boat had walls and doors but most of the windows were stuck open so by the end of the trip there was a little river of water sloshing around inside of the cabin.... we'll just say rain jackets were just as much a necessity inside as out.

We arrived safely and after finding a place (we paid the extra 3 dollars for heat) we settled in for the evening and just watched tv.
We booked tickets for a tour of Halong Bay, an area consisting of 3000 limestone islands jutting out of the sea. These vegetated islands are dotted with innumerable grottos and caves which make for some spectacular scenery. Again the day was met with rain which in a way was nice because it kept the number of tourists and junk boats (old Chinese style boats found throughout the bay) to a minimum. We had seen pictures of endless congo-like lines of boats snaking through the islands, but with the foul weather the entire area was left for us and one other boat.
Within the numerous bays are little settlements of floating houses that have been built on top of plank topped  plastic barrels. The people who live on the water survive on fish farming and oyster/pearl harvesting. After a day on the boat we were froze to the bone and decided to set out on a hunt for a jacuzzi. Sadly, each hotel we visited reported their jacuzzis and saunas weren't working so we settled for a hot shower instead.
Today brings us to Hanoi. Now I know we shouldn't complain to everyone at home about the cold, especially given the winter you've had, but rainy, 10 degree weather in a country that rarely has heated vehicles or buildings makes for some chilly traveling. We will never again take for granted the luxury of central heating :)