Travel Blog Chapter 9: Halong Bay, Jumping boats and Danang girls

Halong bay was listed in 1994 as a UNESCO World Heritage site. In Vietnamese, Halong bay meant "Descending dragon bay". The bay belongs to Halong City and features thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various shapes and sizes. Halong bay was the center of a larger zone which includes Bái Tử Long bay to the northeast, and Cát Bà islands to the southwest.

We set off very early in the morning. After breakfast we took a cab to a nearby bus interchange and boarded a mini bus to Halong bay. We would realize later that the bus did not stop directly at the bay but we would have to transit to another form of transportation to reach the bay. There were weary looking travelers at the interchange. Saw a number of backpackers reclining on the seats waiting for their transportation. Our bus left the interchange an hour or so later after enough passengers have boarded the bus. Taking buses in Vietnam is a very noisy affair. The conducter would keep shouting at potential passengers at the door asking if they were going the same route. At the same time, the driver would endlessly press his horn to signal as well as to get slower moving vehicles out of his way. There was no such thing as graciousness on the road. So essentially you get a road full of vehicles horning at one another. It took some getting use to.

We were out of Hanoi after about an hour or so and I was glad to see the scenic side of Vietnam again. I am just not very city inclined. I get bored in the city quickly. Along the way, more passengers get up the bus, and it was becoming very cramped. Saw a communist procession prep nearing one of the towns that we passed through. There were communist flags everywhere. We passed through a mining town and the buildings were filled with soot and it was black everywhere. Really unhealthy for the inhabitants. Eventually some Chinese got up at a place near Ha Long City. I found out that you could cross into China via Ha Long City through border crossing at Mong Cai. It was weird listening to mandarin speaking people in a bus full of Vietnamese. At the same time, it made me think about people back home. These people got off at Halong City. An hour or 2 later we got off and made arrangements to transit. My bladder was full then and I seriously needed to relieve myself.

Posing in front of the bay

View from the beach

Beach area

Our next mode of transport was motorbikes doubling up as taxi service. We got up a bike each and sped off at almost 100km/hr to Halong bay. Eventually we paid them 10000 dong each which was a dollar at most. Halong bay was beautiful and we explored the islands the next day but in the meantime we had to find a place to stay first.

Boat Jumping

Inside the cave of one of the islands

The cave

The next day, we got a ticket to do island hopping. The ticket was sold by a Vietnamese lady who pushed the package to us telling us that it was 100000 dong. I found out later that that was just the cost of island admission or something. But the price of the tour was another thing altogether. We had to pay another 200000 to 300000 dong if I remembered correctly. I was irritated with the whole set up to say the least. It was really misleading as the 100000 dong was printed on the ticket and there was no indication that we had to pay more. That was the start to a bad day. We thought it was gonna be real island hopping, as in getting out of the boat onto the island. Eventually it was just one island while the boat just passed through the rest of the islands and we saw those islands from a distance. It was absolutely disappointing. What saved the trip eventually was meeting interesting people on the boat. And yes, did I mention that we had to switch boats a few times? The women, children, elderly had to jump from boat to boat to reach a new boat. Some of us were reshuffled and eventually the boat that were were on was more spacious than the first. Inside the boat we were persuaded to buy handmade souvenirs.

Halong Bay-Looking almost magical

On the roof of the boat

International mix

Posing for the camera

Our last photo on the boat

Okay I got to stop complaining because that trip wasn't that bad. The islets looked almost magical from the boat as I got up to the roof of the boat to enjoy the sea breeze. Eventually, my privacy was interrupted by most of the passengers coming up as well. Nam and I got to know 2 Vietnamese women form Da Nang. They asked me accurately if I was from Singapore. It was a surprise how they knew. They said it was from the accent as they had talked to Singaporeans before. They were working at CDM, a major American company and one of them was a translator so that explained the good English. We had fun taking photos on the boat and we would leave together for Hanoi later. I would say that the rest of the trip turned out to be very interesting indeed. Their cameras were out of batteries so I told them I would take photos for them and send it to them via email.

After the boat ride when we were back at the bay, we went to take more photos around the bay areas and had our lunch at this delicious eatery. After that, we packed our stuff and checked out of a cheap hotel. The women were staying in a more expensive hotel. We met at a bus stop and took a bus out of the bay area to another stop to transit to Hanoi. It was a different way to get back to Hanoi as we found out there were no direct buses going back to Hanoi from the bay at that time.

Waiting for the bus

Waiting for the bus as well-spot the difference

Vietnamese girls from Da Nang

Stranded by the side of the road

Long road back to Hanoi. Queen's idea.

We got off at a stop by the side of the road and over there we were met by buses going by very aggressively asking us to get on. These were the mini-buses and they drove at break-neck speed. Due to safety issues we wanted to take the cheaper and more conventional public buses to Hanoi. And we waited for at least an hour or more for our buses. We felt stranded in the middle of nowhere and wondered if we were at the right place.

One of the women, Queen told me that she would walked me back to Hanoi as it was walkable. I stared incredulously at her and she burst out laughing. We spent the rest of the time waiting and joking around while Nam bravely fended off all the persuasive drivers that went by. It was an interesting afternoon. Eventually our bus really came and we got on. For the rest of the journey I fell asleep on the bus and reached Hanoi 4 to 5 hours later. My legs were stiff and I was sorry to say goodbyes to the 2 women that we met. We exchanged contacts and promised to stay in touch. They promised they would show me around Danang if I ever go there in the future. I would get the hang of saying goodbyes as I progressed into my trip as people I met, I knew I may never get to see again in my life and this made the time spent with them very precious.

Travel Blog Chapter 8: Father Ho, beautiful sunsets and letters

The next day in Hanoi was spent visiting all the main attractions. We visited the Ho Chi Minh memorial palace, Ho Chi Minh museum, the palace where the imperial scholars had their exams, Hoan Kiem lake, the tourist attractions surrounding the lake and went to a few interesting places to eat.

The Mausoleum

Posing from a distance from the Mausoleum

The military guard

We started off very early in the morning and after our breakfast we went to the Ho Chi Minh memorial palace where they preserved Ho Chi Minh's body after he died on 2 Sept 1969. According to what I studied in university, the story behind the embalming was this. The Soviets wanted Vietnam to honor their leaders the same way that they honored Stalin so a mausoleum was built for Ho, modeled after Stalin's mausoleum in Russia. There were political reasons behind that initiative during then. So there we were, queung up to enter the mausoleum. We had to surrender our cameras and handphones a sthere were no electronic device allowed inside the mausoleum. The military guard "encouaged" our pace into the masoleum and we were forced to walk quickly into the cold chamber where Ho Chi Minh was. It was an interesting sight as from the distance he looked almost live in the coffin that he was lying in. We were in and out in less than 5 minutes. Not a lot of personal time to appreciate the father of modern day Vietnam.

The Ho Chi Minh museum

Posing in front of the museum

Souvenir shops around the museum

The old palace

After that, we proceeded to the Ho Chi Minh museum where I was rudely singled out as a foreigner. There was no identification check but I somehow looked foreign to the guard at the entrance. As such, I had to pay to get in while the Vietnamese were able to get in free. I wasn't pissed about having to pay more than I was irritated that I was singled out because I looked foreign. Must be the beard or something.

Venue for imperial scholar exams

statues with French or Greek influence, I'm not sure

Had our lunch at a posh Vietnamese/french restaurant. I was seriously underdressed. My Vietnamese friends were dressed in shirt and pants while I was in my t-shirt and bermudas. It was a buffett restaurant and the women were all dolled up while the men were dressed in their best. The food was simply delicious and it cost around 20 USD at best. Really worth it considering it was pretty classy.

By the main road in Hanoi

By this time of the trip, my charger was damaged and I had to find a way to get a new charger. My handphone just wouldn't charge properly. At the same time, there was something wrong with my camera. The batteries seemed to run out really fast. It would get worse during the rest of the trip. Anyway the rest of the evening was spent looking for a post office for me to post a post card to a friend in Singapore. I would realize later that she only got the postcard 3 weeks later when I was in Laos. Slow postal service. On the streets that day I struck up a conversation with an English man. He was teaching English in Vietnam and had been living there for around 8 months. He had met a Vietnamese woman and fell in love with her. But it seemed that the relationship wasn't working out and she wasn't reciprocating. So he was planning to move out of Vietnam soon. His heart was broken he shared and he wanted to go to maybe Singapore or Malaysia after that to find employment. Interesting story.

Youth culture in Hanoi

Skaters tearing up the streets

beautiful sunset in Hoan Kiem Lake

Sky growing dark

Visitor attractions around Hoan Kiem Lake

Went to Hoan Kiem lake in the evening, beautiful place and watched the sunset there. Went back to the old quarters and did some shopping before heading back home for dinner with my vietnamese family. Now, the difference between South Vietnam and North Vietnam was that in North vietnam, the people were more formal and polite in their behavior. I felt like I was living in a Japanese/korean family. The language was different as well. Thank you is pronounced as "Gam On" in Saigon while in Hanoi it was"Gam Ooon". In fact it sounded so different that I thought they were speaking in another language. My South Vietnamese friend had trouble understanding them sometimes.

Another thing I found out was that in communist Vietnam, the government workers were paid very little but accommodation would be provided by the government. the family I lived with worked for the government and they have a very nice house situated in the middle of Hanoi, opposite the French embassy. It was 4 storey high and seriously look posh. People would rather work for the private sector in Vietnam due to the marginalized salary in the public sector. The food was more bland as well. Healthier I guess, compared to Saigon. And the thing about Vietnamese is that they enjoy pork fats. They would consume the whole thing while in Singapore, you usually separate the fats from the lean meat. All these took some time to get used to.

That night, we prepared for our trip to Halong Bay the next day. We were going to leave early and hence had an early rest. I was in dreamland very quickly.

Travel Blog Chapter 7: Hanoi and the beard

By this time, my beard had grown quite long and was starting to look rather unkempt in my opinion. But you just don't bother so much with how you look when you are traveling. I had limited sets of clothes as well and basically I looked like I just came out living in the jungle. Now....where was I before this?

Oh yes..I reached Nam's friend, Drung's house at approximately 9pm the previous night, had a long needed shower, got introduced to his family and enjoyed my first North Vietnamese meal. I was beat, to say the least. I collapsed onto a very comfortable queen size bed and fell fast asleep. I thought that I had died and went to heaven. It was awesomely comfy.

I woke up to the sun shining through the windows at around 7am. I was getting used to the early sunrise. I had a good hearty breakfast with Drung at this colonial looking coffee house. Hanoi was an interesting sight. I felt that I have been transported back to the 1900s or late 1800s. The architecture was very colonial looking. It seemed that the city was suspended in time between a colonial era and an industrialized one. On my journey via the train to Hanoi, there were also a lot of French and Soviet architecture styled buildings in Vietnam. Hanoi was the cultural capital as well as the state's capital so that explains the preservation of all the colonial architecture.

Coffee in the alleyway

Colonial feel

Anyway I noticed another interesting thing, the people were much taller in Hanoi than in Saigon. I thought it was just me until Nam pointed out the same thing. On the first day, I basically just ease myself into Hanoi city life. The temperature in Hanoi was lower compared to Saigon as we were nearer to China. The traffic was less crazy as well. But you still have to activate the skill of crossing the road in the midst of ongoing traffic. That I must say, was a cultural experience on its own. And that also explains a lot of accidents that happen in Vietnam. In 2 weeks I saw 3 accidents. Two in Hanoi, the worse of the 2 was an old man knocked down by a taxi, curled up in fetal position in his own pool of blood. That really woke me up to be more careful when crossing the road.

Street in Hanoi

Cinema but not in the mood for movies

Motorbike country

Nam arrived in Hanoi the next day and the three of us hopped on to our motorbikes with me riding pillion and went to an expensive looking steamboat restaurant. It was awesome. I ate till I was seriously full and it was really cheap compared to the same thing with that kind of ambience in Singapore. It was only around 15 USD. The rest of the day was spent exploring Hanoi with Nam. We visited the bookshops and shopped around at night at the old quarters. The old quarters used to be the residential area of the Europenas during the colonial days but was now transformed to a shopping vicinity. It is akin to the bugis street of Singapore and the Luang Prabang Night Market of Laos. So there was the purchasing Lois Vuitton belts and adidas merchandize at bargain prices. Most of these pirated stuff come from China.

Posing as ushers

I lost quite a lot of weight. Looking skinny here.

Really classy buffet steamboat restaurant

And...yes the beard. Vietnamese dig beards. Especially the women. I have been complimented for that a number of times. It looked macho and manly. haha... People stared and stared again at this wonderful spread of facial hair. I almost couldn't recognize myself when I looked in the mirror sometimes. Anyway the beard is a wonderful thing to have when you are traveling. I'm sure, even though this is not statistically proven, that muggers will think twice before robbing you. And by the way, I was no longer Singaporean. I was Japanese, Korean and I had a name everyone started to know me by when I was alone further into the trip. I was Shane, the Japanese because Shane has a Japanese beard.

Travel Blog Chapter 6: Inside the Train

Vietnam is a long country as you can see from the map. The journey from Ho Chi Minh City all the way to Hanoi would take 36 hours and would passed through the major provinces. The plan was to travel from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi and head to Halong Bay which was 4 hours away from Hanoi and eventually go up to Lao Cai which is near the border of China. From there I would be taking a bus to Sapa, the mountainous region of Vietnam that experiences 4 seasons throughout the year.

As I left off from the previous post, I was at the train station early. I went to a cafe to chill in the time I have before boarding the train. I realized that there were Coffee Bean outlets in Vietnam but no Starbucks. Everything is cheap in Vietnam. A ice blended coffee cost half or lesser the price of a similar kind in Singapore. I met a nice Australian couple in the cafe and we started to talk. Found out that this was their first trip after their honey moon and they were going to do Vietnam in 2 weeks. We were going to be on the same train but they would be getting off at Nha Trang Beach which was a 6 hour or so train ride from Ho Chi Minh City. The couple owns a motorbike spare parts and a carpentry company in Australia and it was great hanging out with them.

Exterior of the train

Water Dispenser beside my cubicle on the right

The train was seriously uncomfortable. I like to have spatial freedom to move about and really there wasn't alot of that. I saw the cubicle that I was going to sleep in and I almost regretted. The size of the cubicle was seriously the size of maybe 2 public toilets cubicle. That cubicle had 6 beds, triple decker and would be shared by yea 6 people. That was still alright...wait till at night when the locals close the door to the cubicle. You start feeling claustrophobic and with the air conditioner blowing directly at the face of the person that sleeps at the top deck, you would start coughing and sneezing in no time. So as luck would have it, my ticket allocated me the top deck to sleep in.

I waited anxiously in the beginning of the journey hoping that my cubicle would be just me alone. Fat hope. I was going to be sharing my cubicle with 3 adults and 3 kids. Cubicle meant for 6? No...it was meant for as many people as possibly could squeeze in. That was the start to a 36 hour train ride.

Now...the thing that I have picked up from my years in school, in long journeys was that if you were going to have no comfortable place to take a dump, don't eat. Or eat as little as possible. That morning I had my breakfast but all throughout the rest of the day, I scrimped on food. The toilet was in between carriage and how the heck are u going to do your business when it was such a rocky ride. Anyway...I only drank most of the time.

View from the train. Not really sure where I was.

No idea where in Vietnam I was

Dan, 1 half of the Aussie couple on the train

 I met up with the Australians again and we hung out at the bar in the train. Passing through the length of the train, I was able to see people sprawled on the floor of the train sleeping in the Softseater carriage. I almost wished I had taken the soft seater as I would rather not be in a cubicle. There is one thing that I learned about traveling in Vietnam, people would buy very cheap tickets and they would not have any place to sit or sleep. So what do they do? They bring a mat into the train and go between your legs and sleep under you. This happens in trains and buses all the time. It was one of the things I hated most in transiting between places in Vietnam. My travel companions got off 7 hours later, train was delayed and I made friends with the Vietnamese family in my cubicle. Well you know before I left off, my friend warned me not to talk to strangers because most Vietnamese will try to con you. But you simply cannot not make friends if you are going to sleep together in a cubicle. There were 2 families in my cubicle and the father of one started to converse with me in Vietnamese. Haha..this is where sign language came in. I had to signal to him that I did not understand what he was saying and got an idea to use my note pad as a means of illustrating what I want to say. I drew the map on my notepad and asked him a few times where we were. I found out that he was going to Ninh Binh. As you can see from the map, Ninh Binh was not that far from Hanoi. So there goes my hope that perhaps they would get off that night and I could have the cubicle all to myself.

The bar carriage

It was really uncomfortable at night and with the musky smell and the cold air blowing into my face I drifted in and out of my slumber. I got out of the cubicle eventually at 2am and stood by the window staring into the night. The father was up also and I guess it wasn't only me that found the cubicle claustrophobic. I was shivering as it was actually quite cold in the train at night. The numbing sound of the wheels and the vibrating carriage kind of make me feel abit depressed that I was gonna be spending another whole day in that train. To my pleasant surprise, he made me a cup of hot coffee with water from the dispenser and offered me the drink. Well...my impression of nice Vietnamese up to this point was still intact.

In the morning, the train passed through Danang and it was seriously jaw dropping beautiful. The train was on a railway track that wound through the mountains and I could see the glistening sea in the early morning sun as well as the surrounding green mountains. It was breathtaking and amazing. I would later meet 2 women for Danang in Halong Bay. I have to say the women are beautiful as well.

I made friends with the kids in my cubicle and I started playing with them. Okay, one thing anyone traveling to SEA needs to know is this. Never give a coin, money or any monetary souvenir to people. I was playing with the kids using a 20 cent coin for a magic trick and eventually just gave it to him for keepsake. For the rest of the morning, he kept asking me to give him more money in Vietnamese. I wondered secretly if his parents were the ones that encouraged him. Anyway that cubicle was getting to me and I spent the rest of the day reading in the train's bar with drinks to accompany me.

That evening I returned to my cubicle and we were approaching Nin Binh. The father chatted with me again and introduced me to a nice lady who got up at Than Hua. As they were going to get off earlier than me, out of concern, the father told me to hook up with the lady as she would let me know when to get off and she would help me along the way if I need anything. To my pleasant surprise, the lady spoke good English. Found out that she was a English Teacher and had decided to go to Hanoi to find a new job. She felt that teaching in Than Hua was not developmental for her career as well as personally. I had the most interesting talk with her. I believe I would never forget this encounter. She was paid very little in Than Hua and felt shortchanged of what she could actually do. She had ambitions to do more for her life. In Vietnam, women are marginalized and acculturated to be submissive and take on the role of a housekeeper. This woman wanted to travel the world and do something different for her life. She was married and had a very young daughter who shared our cubicle after the 2 families left. She told me she was going to give herself a month or 2 in Hanoi to see if she could find another job so as to take her first step towards accomplishing what she wants to do in the future. She had a dream to travel to different parts of Vietnam teaching underprivileged  people. She felt really oppressed where she was and as she was sharing her eyes were wet. I encouraged her to do what she wanted to do and not give in to what society expects of her. We had a good talk and exchanged contact details. She invited me to visit Than Hua and she would show me around if I do.

We arrived in Hanoi at around 8pm. I was exhausted by this time. I left the train station to meet a friend of Nam who was supposed to pick me up on his bike at the station. I would be staying with his family for a few more days in Hanoi. I helped the kind lady to carry her luggage off the train and met her brother whom she was going to be staying with during her time in Hanoi. I bidded goodbye to her knowing that I may never see her again. I prayed that she will achieve what she has sought out to do. I saw my Hanoi friend and we took off into the night on his bike leaving all the persistent taxi drivers behind.

Travel Blog Chapter 5: Leaving Saigon

Left Cuchi early the next morning and headed back to Ho Chi Minh City. That day I got to talk to Nam's very old grandfather whose dad migrated from China and had lived through the Vietnam war. To my pleasant surprise he was able to speak mandarin. We chatted for awhile and I asked him how it was like to live through the Vietnam war. It was amazing to talk to someone with such experiences. I left him to have his afternoon nap after that. Vietnam is an amazing country. Despite the pollution, the not so polished culture, the people were very warm and friendly. I could learn to live in Vietnam. I would find out later that the culture varies as you travel between South and North Vietnam.

Dinner at a Jap restaurant

The hot topic was beautiful Vietnamese women

năm giác

I went to book my train ticket to Hanoi in the afternoon and conveniently purchased a few postcards. I did not know it at that time but that would be the most agonizing train ride I would have. That night I met up with Nam's friends again and we had our dinner at a Japanese restaurant. We had a great time laughing and talking about everything under the sun. As usual, the hot topic was women. And by this time I agreed with them whole heartedly that Vietnamese women are gorgeous. After that we went back to Nam's house and we had năm giác. Fertilized duck egg with a nearly developed embryo. I had to psyched myself up to eat that. Looks disgusting abut taste awesome. It is banned in Singapore by the way. It was bitter sweet as we spent the last night together. I was ready to move on from Saigon to Hanoi and I was sad to say goodbye.

My last breakfast in Saigon

Saying goodbye to the meathouse

Sending off by the motorcycle gang

Packing my backpack, saying goodbyes to my hosts was a bitter sweet affair. I have grown to love my hosts and the culture in Saigon. The crazy roads where crossing the streets required skills. You had to continue moving the moment you stepped out on the road and motorbikes would just weave their way around you as you make your way to the other side. The warmth, the openness of the people in Saigon.We had a breakfast with Nam's friends and I was ready to go. I was told that Hanoi was going to be very different. I said goodbye to Nam's mum, his aunts, grandparents and all the relatives. I still can't get over how warm they are. His mum wished me good luck in Vietnamese and I hopped on to Nam's bike and took off to the train station. My train was supposedly going to leave at 12.30pm but I was there almost 2 hours earlier as Nam and the rest were going to a water themed park that day. To my pleasant surprise, I was met by Nam's friends who sent me off at the train station. We made a point to continue to keep in touch. My friend would meet me in Hanoi but he would leave 1 day later and would be flying. I chose train because it was cheaper and I wanted to see the scenery from Saigon to Hanoi. It was going to be an experience I would never forget.