Ludwig's Odyssey: North Vietnam

Hanoi is an atmospheric city, a busy place bustling with hoards of motorbikes which makes road crossing ‘fun’ as it’s everyone for themselves with little regard for road laws. We did get some good experience of this previously in India so we’re accustomed to standing in the middle of the road whilst the bikes weave in and out around you! Its old quarter may not be the prettiest architecturally but it’s charm is captivating. It takes you sometime to find your way in its labyrinth of streets. This is a place where you can buy delicious Nems for 20p and wash them down with a cold glass of the tasty Bia Hoi for 15p, all the while sitting on little plastic chairs in the street and enjoying a good bit of people watching.

We certainly enjoyed our stay here, we visited the Temple of Literature and enjoyed watching newly graduated students throwing their hats in the air, the Hoa Lo Prison and the propaganda in it’s museum which you have to take with a pinch of salt, the Old Citadel was a peaceful place to visit which also included some old bunkers used in the War with America (or the Vietnam War as we call it), walking around the lakes also kept us entertained but it was very hot and humid affair in temperatures of 37c, thankfully the Air Con in our hotel room worked well.

We did skip the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum however, we saw it from the outside but I really wasn’t that enthused to see the embalmed body of the ‘old fella’ and Wend didn’t think he would have changed much after seeing him 16 years ago!

During our stay in Hanoi we organised a trip to Halong Bay, a place we’ve always wanted to see and we weren’t disappointed.

To see those mountains rising out of the water is stunning, imagine a mountain range being flooded, it’s quite surreal. We would have been happy to stay on the boat and let it takes us around the bay for the two days we were there but sadly this wasn’t to be, being a UNESCO site you can’t do what you want and one has to go on an organised tour which was a bit too touristy for us and some activities on the itinerary we could have skipped but we did get to kayak around some of these outcrops and that was amazing as we found a spot which we had all for ourselves for 5/10 minutes. We enjoyed the experience none the less despite the touristy feel and we met some nice people on the boat that we stayed on overnight, for the price we paid it was a great deal, the food was yummy and plentiful and our cabin was lovely and comfortable.

Returning from Halong and spending a couple more days in Hanoi we bumped into a French couple we met back in Varkala (India), amazing! we had a good night exchanging travel stories and eating a cook it yourself street bbq with a few Bia Hois of course.

From there we took a very comfortable night bus to Hue (pronounced hway), another UNESCO place (how many have we seen on our travels..). We had contemplated going to Sapa, north of Hanoi for some trekking but we’ve been land locked for two months and I needed to see the sea and get some beach time, the tan was starting to fade!!

So we arrived early in Hue, booked in to one of the best rooms we have had on our travels so far and went out to visit the Citadel which sadly wasn’t has intact as it could have been, bloody wars, but it was being renovated and some old buildings still stood. Hue was the capital of Vietnam for around 140 years until the end of WWII and was influenced greatly by Chinese culture, so we really enjoyed seeing different architecture and temples in that vein.

We spent the next day on a scooter visiting the tombs of past emperors, some in amazing bucolic surroundings and some very grandiose and rich in decoration.

At last, I got to top up the tan the following day, again we rented a scooter and rode the 15km out of town to Beach Bar Hue, great to swim in the sea again and it was so quiet on the beach, hardly anyone around.

So next to the fourth place starting with the letter H, Hoi An.

Wendy had remembered this place as being really pretty and relaxing but it’s changed quite a lot since last time she came. It is pretty but it’s a tourist trap, every house in the old town is either a shop, a tailors (which Hoi An is famed for) or a restaurant. For the unsuspecting traveller, you could easily get scammed and not since India have people pestered us so much to come in their shop or go on a boat ride or take their photo and give them a couple of $ for the privilege because they’re wearing ethnic clothes. It really deters from what would be a lovely place to visit, yes the 17th Century Japanese bridge is pretty and at night the lanterns look really nice all lit up but it won’t be with great fondness that we remember this place when we look back at where we’ve been.

I guess we can’t blame the locals for what they do, they’re just trying to make a living after all.

We didn’t stay too long because of that but we did visit My Son (pronounced me sun) on a day trip which are a series of ruined Hindu temples built by the Cham people. We had thought of hiring a scooter again and doing it ourselves but the guy in our guest house was offering such a cheap deal, we couldn’t resist and it also kept us busy whilst we waited for the next night bus to take us to NHA Trang.

Having seen Khajuraho temples in India, we’ve been spoilt and although these were quite interesting, there was no comparison, although had the Viet Cong not used My Son as a base, perhaps the Americans wouldn’t have bombed the place so much and ruined many of the temples, there were quite a few bomb craters around the site. We made our way back into Hoi An via a little boat trip.

So off to NHA Trang on the night bus, it was not the most comfortable ride, 12hrs on bumpy roads but we got there safe and sound.

And now for some beach time for a week or so.

Hanoi