Author: tmeerkat@yahoo.com

The Emperor’s New Clothes

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Today was another one of those stressful ones. We traveled from Hue to Hoi An, and the stress started with new clothes. Hoi An is the place to go in Vietnam to purchase new clothes. However, all of the travel guides warn not to take recommendations from the locals, as they are all getting kick-backs for sending business their way, which drives up the price and makes the recommendation useless. Our driver not only recommended a shop that belonged to his brother, but set it as one of the stops on the tour. We had managed to get this information out of him early on in the trip, and I refused to go until I could check the shop’s ratings on Trip Advisor. Our guide was rather forceful that we should purchase our clothing from there because everyone else was going to take advantage of us.

We moved off the subject because it wouldn’t do any good arguing about it until we made our stop. This did not reduce the stress of our drive, however. Someone asked the question of how gays were viewed in Vietnam, and we had to spend the next half an hour listening to him tell us that being gay was a disease, and you could catch it if you hung around gays. He was extremely homophobic, and I found his diatribe annoying. We tried several times to change the topic before finally getting him off on a music tangent where he sang to us for the next several miles. It was better than his rant.

We did go to his brother’s shop, and found the prices to be awfully high. However, when we got to the hotel and looked it up on Trip Advisor, it had a 100% rating with over 50 reviews. If I could have had this information to begin with, we may have purchased from him. Instead, we took a bus into town and spent about three hours wandering through first tailor’s that I had researched, and then ones that looked like they had a good selection of fabrics. We finally settled on one that had decent stitching, an okay selection of fabrics, and good prices. After ordering some new shirts and slacks, we went out for a good local meal.

I am physically and emotionally exhausted from this day, and am looking forward to going to bed right after posting. We have a busy day tomorrow.

There is, however, one last thing that we did. We were scheduled to stop at Marble Mountain to view a marble shop–another one of those things with kickbacks to the guide. The shop had beautiful pieces, and if I were rich, I would have loved to purchase a few. Better than that, though, was a pagoda up on the mountain that we were not scheduled to go to, but we took the time anyway. We had to take an elevator up to it, and it was amazing, nestled against towering vertical cliffs. Behind the pagoda was a cave with a couple shrines, and a 20 foot tall carved Buddha. Also, exiting one of the buildings we were surprised by another enormous Buddha. This was the best pagoda yet.

I wanted this, but I couldn’t come up with the $11,000 (usd) asking price.

Thinking of modifying the roof of our house to resemble this.

This temple is inside a cave with natural lighting coming from holes in the ceiling 25 to 30 feet up.
This was a pretty amazing Buddha, nestled in a back chamber of the cave.


Hue

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Once again, we started the day with a wonderful breakfast. When we entered the lobby on our way to the dining room, we had three people greet us and show us the way. This is not a Vegas Casino hotel; we just needed to turn left and there it was, but everyone stopped what they were doing to greet us. Entering the dining room, the staff stopped what they were doing and stood at attention, greeting us with good mornings and welcomes. It made me feel a little dirty, like a plantation owner with a large staff. 

The family Christmas photo.

After breakfast, we took a boat ride down the Perfume River, and then toured a sprawling pagoda. Hue is home to two palaces of the Nguyen dynasty. The first we visited was a kind of vacation home, and where the first king of the Nguyen dynasty is buried. The exact location is unknown to keep enemies from desiccating the grave. After lunch, we went to the main palace, which was a walled city within a walled city, also known as the forbidden citadel. Within this was the purple district, which is where the emperor lived. Much of this was destroyed in the Vietnam war, which the Vietnamese refer to as the American war, but the buildings that were left had beautiful architecture and detailing. It is the rainy season in Hue, and the weather ranged from mist to drizzle to rain. It reminded me of Seattle.

This sculpture had real hair for his beard.

A monk was ringing the bell in this pagoda.

The family in front of the entrance to the king’s home away from home.

I admit, my photos started getting artsy today, but I really like this one.

For lunch, we had works of art that tasted delicious.

Even the dessert was coming out roses.

After such royal treatment, we started to feel the part.

Like those old west photos, except this one was actually in the forbidden citadel.

We ended the day with a trip to the market. One thing is for certain: on tour days, we remain very busy.

Halong Bay to Hue

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We woke up today and enjoyed a sunrise Tai Chi lesson amidst the spectacular backdrop of Halong Bay. The funny thing was, I figured that I had taken more than enough pictures yesterday, and thus wouldn’t need my camera before breakfast. Fortunately, Sarah was smart enough to bring hers because the pollution mixed with the spectacular scenery made for an amazing orange-red sunrise.

We actually went through that gap!

After another delicious breakfast, we explored Surprise Cave. It is called this because it has three chambers, and each one is larger than the last and provides more amazing surprises. In the largest chamber, the roof of the cavern must have been at least 70 feet high, and most likely much higher. Thus, after taking nearly a hundred pictures yesterday, I made an attempt to get the same number today. I made the decision to add this cruise to the top three most amazing trips I have ever taken. The other two are a hike through the bamboo forest at the Seven Sacred Pools near Hana, Maui, and the other  a tour of Putrajaia, a planned city, after it was mostly finished but before anyone had moved in to it. I would love to take a much longer cruise that would get us away from the convoy of boats that we traveled in.

Mai, David and Anita in the first chamber.

Sarah and I in the entrance to the second chamber.

Anita and Sarah after more than a half an hour underground.

The third chamber was enormous.

David resting before climbing out of the cave.

After the cave, you have to pass through the merchants.

After brunch, we disembarked and started our four hour drive back to Hanoi Airport. Along the way, we stopped in a small town that specialized in clay pottery. We got to watch families spinning large pots, creating ornate burial boxes, and making clay murals. It was a fascinating process, and they did an amazing job. 

The Vietnamese bury their dead for three years in a public graveyard, and then dig them up at midnight and place their remains in a burial box, and move them to a private location, like the family graveyard or farm. The second time the relatives are buried, a grave marker is erected. These are second burial boxes.

 


While walking down the street of the town children would shout out “Hi” to us. We had this happen when visiting Ho Chi Min’s tomb, as well. The kids would say “Hello,” and wave. Some reached out and touched us. Since there were hundreds of young children there on a field trip, it made us feel like rock stars. It wasn’t just the kids, either. One couple stopped Sarah, asking if they could get their picture with her. We were all laughing at this. Ken, I don’t think she looked like Colonel Sanders. We were told by our guide that the children were probably from a remote province and had never seen a white person before.

After arriving at the airport, our guide took Sarah and I through customs and where we were finally able to retrieve our luggage. We are both looking forward to the first change of clothes we will have since Monday. (I did purchase a new shirt and underwear so I could wash one pair and wear the other. I’m also looking forward to shaving. My head and face are beginning to look like a Chia pet. Unfortunately, I only had the luggage for about 30 minutes before I had to check it in for our next flight to Hue. We have just started our descent now, and I am really hoping that our bags made it on board.

UPDATE: Our luggage arrived in Hue, and our room was spectacular. If this is a 3 star hotel room, I wonder what a 5 star would look like.

Those are real flower pedals.

Halong Bay

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We woke up this morning to another wonderful breakfast at the Golden Silk Hotel in Hanoi. They have a full spread of food in their complimentary breakfast buffet, ranging from bacon and omelets, to pho. To top it off, they have freshly squeezed watermelon, orange, and passion-fruit juice. We know it is fresh squeezed from the flavor, and because Sarah ordered some watermelon juice with dinner yesterday, and shortly after, we saw the staff walk in with a watermelon in a bag. There was the sound of the juicer, and she was then delivered a tall daiquiri of juice. After breakfast we checked out of the hotel, and took the four hour drive to Halong Bay, where we got on a cruise.

The buildings in Hanoi are very narrow. This is three different buildings.

The boat was relatively small, with 16 cabins and holding 32 people. The cruise so far has been the highlight of the trip so far. We have had two gourmet meals, a cooking class, and a tour of a fishing village, all with the most amazing backdrop I have ever seen. Tall spires of rock jut out of the water creating steep cliffed islands which can reach more than 300 feet high. The fishing village was a bunch of floating houses tied together in a cove formed from several of these rock islands. I must have taken fifty or more pictures, but none of them capture the beauty and awe of this place.

I know this is a picture overload, but there is no real way to describe how spectacular the scenery was here.

They showered us with rose pedals as we boarded.

The boat felt classic, like the Titanic without the sinking.

The Vietnam flag.

We took a raft ride around the fisherman’s floating village. The entire village was in a circular cove with a tall spire in the middle.

Seth and Mai.

Our rowboat’s captain.

David and Anita, with the arch as a backdrop.

Sarah’s mom enjoying herself.

This boy is rowing the boat with his feet.

Our quarters were tight but luxurious.

The small intimate setting of the boat, the exotic location, and the attentiveness of the crew combine to make me feel like a multi-millionaire on vacation. I guess that is true because I did take out a little more than 5,000,000 dong the other day to pay for whatever expenses I accrue, and any frivolous purchases Sarah and I may desire.

Hanoi

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I woke up this morning around 5:30 so I could take a walk before we all met for breakfast. Near the hotel that I am staying at, there is a small lake with paths all the way around it. When I started out, I saw very few people, but as I made my way around more and more walkers came out. The lake was maybe about half the size of Green Lake, with maybe a similar crowd. Even this early, I was approached by people selling their wares. I took a couple of early morning photos that are probably a little too dark, and got in 8500 steps before breakfast. The funny part of this little story is that although my phone said it was 5:30 when I got up, it was actually 3:30. No wonder there were so few people out there.

Our tour kept us busy throughout the day. Our first stop was the mausoleum  of Ho Chi Minh. We arrived right in the middle of every elementary school in the area taking a field trip there. It was two lines more than a mile long of little kids, and they all wanted to say hello to us, or touch our hand. Our guide said it was probably because they were from remote areas and had never seen light skinned people before. It was very cute. The trip through the mausoleum itself was the same two lines moving at a steady pace past a perfectly preserved body in a glass case. It was interesting for the short time that we were there, but I found the architecture and the military guards in full dress uniforms carrying guns with bayonets to be more interesting.

We then walked past two of Ho Chi Minh’s residences, one of which was on stilts. While he was in charge, he refused to live in the opulent palace that was built by the French, deciding to live humbly instead in homes that he built himself.


After we were done, we went to the Museum of Vietnamese Culture. I have to admit that I was more interested in the mountains where some tribes lived than the different ethnicities. One was about 10,000 feet, and ripe for the climbing. It takes three days. Alas, that will not happen this trip, as we are not going anywhere near it. From there we went to lunch, and then visited a Buddhist temple. We also stopped at the temple of Confucius before heading to watch a water-puppet show. I have had maybe 8 hours of sleep since 4 am. Monday, so I had a difficult time staying awake in the dark theatre. What I saw of it was fun.

We finished the day off with a cyclo or pedi-cab ride. At first I was a little embarrassed to be sitting in a seat being driven around by someone and being passed by people on foot. However, I soon decided that it was rather relaxing, and enjoyed being able to look around at the shops without having people come out and try to sell me something. I saw lots of shops that I would like to explore further, but I was completely lost, and have no idea where they were.

Arrive in Hanoi… Mostly

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Although this is the same day as my previous post, my computer is not resetting to the new time zone, and I don’t feel like figuring out how to get it to do so. This should be the only confusing day. Just remember, we woke up in Japan this morning.
Our flight went well, and we arrived in Hanoi safely. Unfortunately, our luggage didn’t, and the airline that we took is saying that it is not their responsibility, although they are trying to locate it. Right now, we just need to get some new clothes so we can change out of the ones we put on Monday at 3 am. The plane was very nice, but the most interesting thing was electronically tinting windows. You press a button, and the windows got dark. It was very cool. There is a video of it below. Note that the tinting speed was increased by a factor of 4. It took about a minute to go completely dark, which is not shown here.

Hanoi is a crowded town, with very narrow buildings. It just celebrated it’s 1,000th anniversary in 2010. Lanes don’t seem to mean much when driving, and crossing the street is rather scary. You just start walking, and hope that the constant stream of cars and bikes don’t hit you. Sarah made the apt comparison to Frogger, and now we make little bleep bleep noises as we cross. The most interesting auto I saw today was a moped with two people on it, and the one in the back was holding a 4’x6′ framed canvas. Imagine seeing a person sitting on the back of a moped with their arms spread as wide as they can go, grasping a huge framed painting that completely blocks the driver and the front of the moped. Perhaps you had to be there, and I unfortunately didn’t have my camera.

The view from our third-floor hotel room.

To relieve some of the stress, the whole family went for a massage, which came out to around $8 per person after tips. Tomorrow we start our tour of the city.

Vacation has Started

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Good morning from Tokyo. Local time is now 6:15 am, but back home it is 1:15 pm. We arrived in Tokyo around 11:00 at night, and made our way through customs to the international flights. For some reason, international flights are unloaded outside customs. Our flight was long, and it was difficult to sleep on it. Upon debarking, I went to use the local restroom before deciding that I was too tired to try to figure out the pit-toilets that they have in the airport.

After figuring out where our departure gate was, we decided to rent a room at the international hotel for 6 hours. The price was $130, but having a good five-hour sleep and a shower made it worth it. The rooms were very nice–one of the nicest hotels I’ve stayed in–with all the latest devices and gadgets. Plus, we got to hang out in the lounge for a while afterwards while we ate breakfast. Thus, I sit here typing and eating my ramen bowl, which I had to get help to properly fix. I want to tip the front-desk person who helped me out so much, but a quick internet search showed that for the most part tips are not accepted, and can even be considered an insult.

With our rest, we should be feeling awake enough to explore when we arrive in Hanoi. It looks like someone from our tour will be there to pick us up.

The closest we got to Tokyo was looking at it through the airport hotel windows.

A Day… or three… of Travel

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We got a bit of a bad start this morning. Due to weather in San Francisco, our flight has been delayed three hours. We were actually in the process of boarding when we heard the news. Unfortunately, we only had a two hour window to catch our connection to Seoul. It is possible that it might also be delayed long enough for us to catch it, but I’m not too hopeful. If we don’t make it, we will have to catch the flight the next day, which sounded like it was full. We may be getting a very late start to our vacation.

Update (9:05 am): We just found out that San Francisco International is closed, and no flights are going in or out. We will definitely not make our connection in Seoul, but I am trying to remain hopeful that we will make it to San Francisco before our connection leaves.

Update (4:38 pm): We made it to San Francisco, but missed our flight to Seoul. The next three and a half hours were spent waiting in lines and making phone calls, trying to reschedule our flight. Asiana said it wasn’t their problem because our flight from Seattle to San Francisco was on United. United said it was not their problem because the flight was booked through Asiana. It was finally Travelocity, who we purchased the tickets through, who came to the rescue. We have a flight from San Francisco to Tokyo leaving at 6:00. We then have a 12 hour layover, before catching our flight to Vietnam. We will miss a day in Hanoi, but there is now a plan. On the plus side, I’ve never been to Tokyo. I wonder if we will be brave enough to leave the airport and do a bit of exploring between flights, or if we will just be too tired.

Final Note: My apologies to those who don’t think this reads like a travel magazine. I am writing everything down in my journaling software, and then posting it. In other words, I am writing this for me, to help me remember the trip. That means that it may be a bit ruminating and long-winded. If you find this to be the case, rest assured that the pictures will come, and you will be able to quickly flip through them. I just figured that images of grumpy people waiting for hours in a line were not what I or anyone else would want to look at.

Hello Blog

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I’m setting up this blog to share my travels with all those who are interested. More specifically and immediately, I am setting it up to share my trip to Vietnam with all who want to play the home game.

My preparations are in full swing, and my vaccinations are at least partially taken care of. I have not had time to go in for a prescription for malaria, so I guess I’ll just pass on the it. With the places I am going, there is little chance of catching it, but some good bug spray might be in order. Total travel time is about 30 hours, but we will fortunately be arriving at night so the first thing we will do is go to bed. I am hoping that will be enough adjusting, as we are leaving early Monday morning and arriving late Wednesday, and I don’t want to waste too much of my time being tired.

Since this post is just a test post, and the only traveling I am doing right now is on the train home from work (which trip only took 3.5 hours today rather than 30), I will stop boring my readers. At least for now. Come back for more exciting boredom… or don’t. And hopefully I will be able to figure out how to post pictures as well. I suppose if I can’t, then I’ll need to start a different blog.

Toodles.