A Northern adventure Part II

The road trip continued, and the landscape kept changing; we were fortunate to have a skilled driver, and a very knowledgeable guide.

Climbing up another mountain, we stopped to walk, and take some photos

Looking down into this valley, we could see rice fields that had been harvested, separated by corn; the mountains in the distance are in China

This heavy truck full of rocks was slowly grinding its way up the hill; we eventually passed it

At a "Cultural Village" designed to show tourists the traditional way of life, our guide Thuan demonstrates how to grind corn

Looking across to the road we're about to travel on; limestone dominates the landscape, the climate is dry, and the people have a very hard life. We could see the steep paths they take to get to their corn fields.  Zoom in to see a dwelling on the bottom right.

We walk a ways down the mountain

And see boys walking up

They're taking home grass for the cows

Not fast enough on the shutter!  I wanted a picture of the houses on the side of the mountain, and got this guy as well!  Photobomber!

A Northern adventure Part I

How to distill a 7 day road trip in a few posts... hmmm perhaps impossible, so we'll give you a few highlights:

Up North the roads through the steep mountains were winding, twisty and in need of repair due to landslides in places - here we were stopped by road work

We got out of the car to walk for a bit, and watched these fellows on their motorcycles negotiate the turns

Around another corner there was a water buffalo with a wooden bell

To get to the Eco Lodge you park on one side of the river and cross the bridge on foot

Where we stayed at the Eco Lodge

Rice terraces from the highest point of our hike. The rice is turning golden and will soon be ready for harvest by hand

The terraces were built into such steep slopes that each level was almost as high as it was wide

They also grow tea in the area and we visited a small tea producer - here they're drying tea in baskets (more like trays)

Store cat

Sometimes we see people get off their motorbikes, and put a tiny dog down on the ground.  I'd love to get a photo of a dog on a motorbike, but it's hard to get - you have to be quick!  We'll keep trying.

In the meantime, here's a cat picture.

by Kiek Fabels on Flickr Creative Commons

Getting around town

Taxis have competition here.  We've heard of Uber of course, but when our hotel reception person said he would call Grab, we were at a loss.  He showed us the options nearby, said "you don't want a motorbike do you?" and told us the exact cost and when the car would arrive.

It was nice to know ahead of time what the price was, and since the hotel person had input our destination into the app, we didn't even have to try to explain to the driver where we wanted to go.

Hanoi's Hoan Kiem lake

We're staying near Hoan Kiem lake, which has the much photographed Turtle tower out in the middle.  Legend has it that the Emperor, in the 15th Century, was send a sword, which he used to drive the Chinese from Vietnam.

Later, a giant turtle grabbed the sword, and quickly dove to the bottom of the lake, to restore the sword to its rightful (divine) owners.  That's how the lake came to be named, since Hoan Kiem means Lake of the Restored Sword.  The monument on a tiny islet in the centre has been dubbed Turtle tower.

There's a walking path all around the lake, and it's a very busy place.  On our side, there's a nice open-air coffee place, where you can sit at a table with a Caphe Sua Da (I can order it now, in Vietnamese) - iced coffee with sweetened milk, and watch the passing parade.

People practice Tai Chi beside the lake; my photographer thought he was being stealthy, but it looks like he was busted!

Hanoi water puppets

Tomorrow we leave for a 7 day adventure to the Northeast part of Vietnam - we'll be going over mountain passes, trekking, cycling a bit and visiting small villages.  It's doubtful that we'll have much internet access, so after today only scheduled posts will appear - ones that we're uploading now, scheduled to appear every few days.  We'll report on our trip North when we get back.

On Saturday we had a very enjoyable time at an outdoor water puppet show.  There was live music, and a narrator who gave us an idea of what was about to happen.

Before the show; in days gone by they would perform in flooded rice paddies

Fire breathing dragons

Musicians playing traditional instruments

The puppeteers came out from behind the bamboo screen to great applause

Halong Bay trip

We had a wonderful time on the boat Treasure Junk, and good weather, though rather hot and humid ("36 C feels like 40 C" (104 F.).  So it was good to be on the water, kayaking as well as swimming in the warm salt water.

Setting out in kayaks on the first afternoon

Bucket hat, long sleeves - the sun was fierce and we went for shade when there was some

Heading back to the boat as the sun starts to go down, with the tender at the side of the boat

The boat was only 5 years old, and sometimes the GPS would be up on the TV, so we could see exactly where we were - you can see a bit of the dining room reflected on the screen...

On day two, there were only 4 of us 2 nighters for the kayaking. Thuan, our guide, is pointing out something in a cave we stopped to check out.  Of course we had to watch for sleeping dragons around every corner.  Legend has it that dragons created the islands in the bay.  Ha means descending and long means dragon.  Responding to a call for help from people on the coast, a mother dragon and her little ones carried pearls in their mouths and dropped them in the ocean to create the archipelago and deter invaders from the sea. Geologists would say something about limestone karsts and tectonic plates but we like the dragon story (maybe we've been watching too much Game of Thrones.)  

A fishing boat in the bay

The morning of day 3 suddenly the sails were up - for a photo op perhaps?  The tender took us to a float, where we got into bamboo boats; the oarsmen and women rowed us past a floating fishing village, then on towards an arch

Whole families live on the floating village, some with guard dogs; this one looks quite placid

This dog however was barking and snarling and saying "I'll rip your throats out if you come any closer"

We went right up to this beautiful arch; there were stalactites starting to form, and small hanging gardens

They row the bamboo boats standing up which allows them to lean into the oars. They took us to a small pearl farming operation.  We exited through the gift shop, got on the tender, and went back to the boat for a second breakfast/brunch, after which it was time to leave the boat, go back to shore, and wait for the van that would take us back to Hanoi.

Differences between North and South Vietnam

A blogger named Tom, who has "lived, travelled and worked in Vietnam since 2005..."  wrote a very interesting and informative article on the differences he's noticed on his many travels around the country, often on a motorbike.

His article, posted in 2016 on his blog Vietnam Coracle, is called 23 Differences from South to North Vietnam and is really worth a read.

He has some great photos on there, with short bits of text on topics as varied as:

Coffee, tea and tobacco
Dogs
Street food
Clothing
Wealth
Internet
and more...  check it out!

Learning the language

It's not easy to learn Vietnamese.  You have to have a good ear.
I decided I would try to learn a new word every day.
Well that's gone by the wayside.
I still have a very small vocabulary of about four words:

Hello
Thank-you
Delicious
Goodbye

Brad is a few words ahead of me and maybe less worried about making mistakes. He laughed at himself the other day when he realized he'd said "Hello, delicious." Words he was practising at the time. Anyway, the friendly people here seem to appreciate our efforts to learn a little of their language.

But I know more about clinking beer glasses and saying CHEERS!  The proper way is this: hold up your glass, chant ONE  -  TWO  -  THREE - CHEERS!  in Vietnamese.  Also, to be respectful you need to have your glass lower than the glass of an older person.

So it goes like this (spelled phonetically)

MO HI BA YO!

I'm often busy either trying to remember the words, or watching to make sure my glass is higher.

Halong Bay Boat trip

Today is the start of our 2 night boat trip on Halong Bay.  We go first by van from Hanoi to the coast, then board a "treasure junk" which we think will look something like this:

(Photo by Prince Ray on Flickr)

I've scheduled some posts that will appear each day while we're away.  Hope you enjoy them!

Arrived in Hanoi

Today we arrived in the capital city, Hanoi, after a short one hour, 20 minute flight from Danang.
On the way to the Danang airport, Brad got these great shots of this woman on the motorbike.  I was exhorting our taxi driver to please slow down, while praying for the woman to speed up, and all the while traffic is honking and going around us every which way...

Two chickens hanging down at the front...zoom in to see what else...

Greens in a bag at the back, with ducks - how many ducks in total?

We're staying in the Old Quarter of Hanoi, and it seems like it's more walkable than Ho Chi Minh City was, or even Hoi An. Or maybe we're just getting used to it. On our evening walk to the lake we didn't encounter the crossing the road terror and around the lake there's a walkway for pedestrians only.

If you're wondering what all the fuss is about, have a look at this interesting article and 3 minute video called Why Did the Tourist Cross the Road?

On to Hanoi

Today is a travel day; we take a half hour taxi ride from Hoi An to Danang, and then fly to Hanoi.
Here are a few photos of some of the flowers we've seen so far: