Erica and I are taking a break from our long day of touring the city of Hue, so I figured that I would try to write a quick (ha) email about our trip in Vietnam so far.
I have to admit that our first experience in Vietnam was not a positive one, as we got scammed at the airport by a taxi that ended up charging us about $180 for a ride to our hotel. We knew something was amiss, we tried to figure out what was going on, but in the end, we got a bit screwed. But luckily, we didn't hold it against the country for too long, and since then, have found Vietnam to be an amazing country! Actually, we have already started planning what we would like to do when we come back someday!
We started off in Hanoi, which has been the capital of Vietnam since 1945. It's a pretty big city (2nd biggest in Vietnam) and is located on the red river, which, due to all the clay, definitely looks red. Hanoi actually means "city in the river." The first thing that comes to my mind when i think of Hanoi is Motorbikes. There are millions of motorbikes that rule the city with few traffic laws or lights. I dont think i can accurately describe the chaos of it all, but I can tell you that Erica and I had to relearn the art of crossing the street. At first, we just stood there for 20 minutes waiting for the road to clear, but then with a little practice, and some advice from an American woman who lives in Hanoi, we were able to walk into traffic on a diagonal, not looking at the motorists so that they wouldnt think they could go in front of us. Not looking at oncoming traffic when you know about 50 motorbikes are speeding at you is a bit dizzying, but we made it through pretty well.
In hanoi we walked around the city, went shopping, had clothes tailor-made for us, and just explored a bit. We went to a few really good restaurants, and saw the Water Puppet show which was pretty amazing! The stage was a miniature pagoda in front of a small body of water. They told stories of dragons, fisherman, and legends with painted wooden puppets that would dance around the water. I know it doesn't sound THAT exciting, but it was unlike anything I've ever seen before, and was really impressive!
After we had had enough shopping for a little while (we have accumulated 2 new, large bags to bring home with us that are packed with stuff!) we took a day trip to Halong Bay (which means descending dragon, and was formed millions of yeras ago by an earthquake, since there are no volcanos around that area). Halong bay is one of the many UNESCO sites that we have visited on our trip, but this one is an especially beautiful landscape of limestone islands/mountains/caves that jut out of the emerald green water, into the blue and hazy sky. It's sort of an eerily beautiful place. We actually did a pretty cool trip there where it was just me and Erica and our guide Chang, who we loved! We drove there in a car (which took about 3 hours!) and had a big and beautiful boat all to ourselves to tour the bay with. We went into one of the limestone caves that is supposed to be the most beautiful, since it was only discovered in the 80s. All the rest of the caves were discovered long ago by fisherman who would take bits of stalagmites and stalagtites home with them as good luck symbols, which basically destroyed them, since they cannot grow anymore once touched by human fingers (due to the oil in our skin).
we drove the boat around, went swimming, and learned about all sorts of things from Chang. Mostly we talked about Vietnam, Buddhism, and her ex-fiance. After we returned from Halong bay, we packed our stuff and got ready to move on to our next city, Hoi An, which is in central Vietnam.
This is where we met up with Tham, our tour guide. He is really nice and funny and clean shaven, except for about 8 long hairs that reside above his adams apple. This is very curious to me, but I dont think I'll ask about it, because I dont want to be rude. Now we are in phase 2 of our trip, which is a private tour from Hoi An until we leave Vietnam. This was a very good plan, since we are nearing the end of our trip, and dont have to think about anything, since we already thought of where we wanted to go and what we wanted to do before we left. Now, all that we have to do is show up and learn about all the places we are visiting.
Hoi An is an amazingly beautiful city! It's really small (and navigable, which is good for me!) so we just walked around all day, checked out the market and the river, and all the little sites which include a very old, very beautiful japanese bridge, some of the old homes that have been preserved for many years, some of the pagodas, and also some Chinese meeting halls. Since China occupied Vietnam for about 1000 years, they have influenced a lot of things here, and the people with chinese heritage still keep up their traditions. So it's interesting to see the mix of classic Viet stuff with Chinese, and a bit of Indian influence as well. Here, we also went shopping and got clothes and shoes made for us! I would say that it was mostly a good experience, and we came out with mostly great stuff (just a very few exceptions, but it was worth it).
We also took a cooking class, which was one of the best parts of this leg of the trip! we woke up in the morning and were picked up by motorbike (erica riding on the back of one, and me on another). We rode along the streets with all the other motorbike traffic and no helmets. Normally, this is something I would freak out over, but it just seemed like a necessary experience (when in rome, you know?) and we were'nt going that far anyway. So, we joined up with some other people who were also taking the class, and headed to the market to learn about vietnamese spices and tools. I noticed that there was a couple speaking spanish, and also that their supposedly fluent guide was not fluent at all, so I volunteered to translate for them which, of course, was a bonus for all of us (even Erica practiced a bit of Spanish!). After the market, we took a boat ride along the scenic river to our cooking school, where we learned more about the herbs and plants that they use in their cooking (a lot of lemon grass and tumeric). Then, we learned how to make fresh rice paper/pancake that you make spring rolls with, we made a really delicious eggplant dish, spring rolls of course, vietnamese pancakes which are sort of like crepes with shrimp, shallots, and sprouts in them, and a few other things. Of course, when they put everything out for you all mixed together already and clean everythign up, cooking doesnt seem that hard. Erica swears that she will cook some of the food we learned about when we get home, but I'm not that optimistic (or for me, more like unrealistic) about cooking vietnamese food when i get home. oh well, it was really fun to do, and best of all, it was really tasty!
Now we are in Hue, which was the capital during the Nguyen (pronounced "win") dynasty. First the capital was Hanoi, then Hue, now back to Hanoi. Hue is the 3rd largest city in vietnam, but feels like its smaller. And it also feels like we are getting a real taste of how most vietnamese live by visiting this city (not that many tourists, lots of street markets, etc.). So far, its been really interesting, adn we have visited the tombs of 2 Nguyen emporors, one emporer that the people loved, Mihn Mong (sp??) and one that they hated, Tu Duc. they were different, but both beautiful. I'll have to show you all pictures when we get home. We also took a boat ride down the perfum river, which goes through the center of Hue. It is called the perfume river because bushes that used to line the river made it smell very fragrant and good. Sadly, those bushes are long gone, and now it doesnt smell like much.
So, we have done a few more things in Hue, but I will have to write about them later, as I have to go! Off to the citadel and forbidden city, so I'll try to write about those next time, or tell you about them when we return in just a few days!
Lauren Weitzman
"All I want is to be Googleable!"
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