Narita, Japan

Slept a little on the 5 hour flight to Japan.  Had about an 11 hour layover which I had picked on purpose.  Took a walking tour of Narita with a program that provides volunteer guides and a few tour choices to people just in town for the day.  They help you buy train tickets and escort you into Narita to walk around the town and shops and see a pagoda, Buddhist complex, park and gardens.  I saw a group of monks during a prayer service with teiko drumming and gongs. Very cool.

Got on my 12 hour flight to Newark, then home!

Ho Chi Minh City

Slept well at the Ibis Saigon Airport.  Started our short day at the War Remnants Musuem which is a little about the French, but mostly about the Vietnam War.  Very sobering.  Then we headed to an interesting temple complex, the post office, a beautiful building the French built, and the residence where the South Vietnam president lived.  Nice walk around Ho Chi Minh which is more open, wider roads and sidewalks, more parks, less traffic, less honking, and generally more enjoyable to me than Hanoi. We walked down a street with bookstores - Kelsey bought a children's picture book about a boy off on an adventure in his boat, really lovely illustrations.

  Plus, if there is a craft brewery around, Kelsey will find it!  Had light bar snacks and a flight of 6 beers. Ended with a sample of a chocolatey one which was very good.

   

Back at the hotel we hung out in the rooftop pool, then packed, then back up to the rooftop bar for
a last beer and dinner.


Then we each headed out on different flights. Kelsey through Seoul and me though Tokyo.

Mai Chau Super Adventure

Left Hanoi this morning and headed west into the mountains and countryside to Mai Chau district.  Ended up being the only two people on the tour so a private tour for us.  Took over 3 hours to reach the village where the tour started, Mai Ha.  The White Thai (white is the color of their traditional clothing) people live in houses on stilts which we had seen in the museum in Hanoi, but here we saw people living in them.  We immediately went on a 1 1/4 hour bike ride through the village, on a concrete path through the rice paddies and on a single track bumpy and muddy section to a lake, up some hills, then back around to village.  Several children shouted Hello to us along the way.

We had lunch with our guide, Nghi, and our driver, rested half an hour, then as we heard thunder and we could see rain nearby decided to head out anyway on our trek on a trail over the mountain to another village where we would be staying the night.  I was a little hesitant hearing it would be a 2 1/2 hour hike over the mountain on a slippery trail, the thunder in the distance, and the reminder to put on bug repellent for the mosquitoes in the forest (more like jungle). But this is what we came for, so off we set.

We  up the hiked up the mountain on a rocky and red clay slippery, sometimes steep, winding path, choosing each footfall carefully.  It was drizzling. The vegetation was dense. For an hour we wound our way up the mountain.  We slipped several times, and almost fell.  At one point poor 5' 3" Nghi was trying to keep us from sliding back down and had to push our butts up the hill. An older lady who lived at the top bounded past us in rubber boots after cutting Kelsey and I walking sticks from bamboo. I already had one. She obviously thought I needed another one.... She was looking for her water buffalo and we had heard its bamboo bell a little earlier.

We made it to the top where she lives with her husband in a beautiful clearing on a small homestead with rice paddies and fruit trees and water buffalo.  We were tired, dripping with sweat from exertion and from rain, and it had started to rain more. We went up into the stilt house to rest a little.  The husband showed us the house - the kitchen area with a fire burning and sleeping area.  The wooden floor had wide openings between the slats.  Big bags of rice were along the wall.  He was laughing and speaking the local language, different from Vietnamese.  He offered us a shot of rice wine, which we drank. He played the bamboo flute and sang a couple songs.  We tried jungle honey (honey he makes from hives he finds in the jungle) and added it to our second shot. Delicious.  Started to rain more, and he poured us one more shot. They have been living on the mountain top for 5 years and this trekking tour has been coming there for a couple months.  The tour company must pay them so they get some extra income.

 

View from inside the house

It was raining more but we had to get down the mountain.  The way down was more open and muddier.  We covered our crossbody bags with cheap rain ponchos. Going down was not as hard work physically, but took a lot of concentration to watch where we stepped. Our shoes were a muddy mess and mud caked on the bottom made them even slipperier. I was the first one to fall in the mud.  Kelsey made it a while longer, and she fell too.  Our guide almost fell a couple times. We were wet though and through, mud on our backsides and water soaked and muddy shoes and clothes.

After an hour we reached the road and walked a short distance to Nghi's family's house where we would be sleeping.

We took showers and rinsed our clothes before dinner.  We ate dinner with the family at a low table sitting on cushions on the floor - Nghi, his parents, his wife and 8 month baby daughter Toi An.  Three more shots of rice wine during dinner.  Delicious bamboo shoots with ginger leaves was our favorite dish. Ice cold watermelon after dinner.  Chatted with Nghi awhile. Then bedtime.  We decided to not turn on the AC, just left the window (hole in the wall, with a wooden shutter) open to the air and night sounds until Kelsey was attacked by a giant moth that found its way into her mosquito netting at 4:00 a.m.  we closed the shutter, turned on the AC (turns out there was AC after all) and slept for a few more hours.

Next day was an easier day.  We went on a half hour flat, only occasionally muddy trail through beautiful terraced rice paddies to another village.

We drove an hour to get to our boat ride on the Black River, a huge wide river surrounded by mountains, with over 50 islands.  The boat parked at a tower ladder in the river and we jumped off the boat into the cool river water.  We swam and floated for a while.

Back onshore we were done for the day and are now on our way to the Hanoi airport to get a flight to Ho Chi Minh for our flight home tomorrow night.

Bai Tu Long Bay

Arrived at the harbor and got on a smaller cruising boat with a new group of tourists from Canada, U.S., Italy, Barcelona, Belgium, France, and England, which included an older middle aged couple!  The small boat would take us out to an island where we would spend the night in a house where a Vietnamese family lives and the tour company rents 6 rooms for tourists.

The scenery in Ha Long is more majestic, but Bai Tu Long is a nicer overall experience because there are almost no other tourist boats, just a few speed boat jitneys or ferry type boats for the locals, both tourists and residents, and almost no debris in the water. Whereas no one lives on any islands in Ha Long Bay any more, people still live on a few islands in Bai Tu Long.  There are lots of oyster farms spread out over the bay.  We stopped to kayak around a couple islands and there were no other people around.  Some people swam by jumping off the boat, including Kelsey, and our tour guide was on the lookout from the boat to tell the swimmers where the jellyfish were.  Swimming is allowed here we assume because it is less polluted and has less boats.  You are not allowed to sleep on a boat in this bay. Which is why we headed to Quan Lan island.  We took a tuktuk ride to our homestay.  At dinner we learned how to make Vietnamese fried spring rolls, chopping and shredding vegetables, cutting rice noodles and then rolling the filling in rice paper.  Good dinner family style again and I am getting better at chopsticks because I have no other choice.  :)

Kelsey and I walked around the village a little, saw a temple and a square where the morning market is held and that night had some kind of social food event going on.  All the houses, shops and buildings were open to the air, people sat outside eating, talking and checking their cell phones.  We found our way back to the house. Kelsey pulled her mosquito net around her when we went to bed.

Got up and had breakfast the next morning at 7:00 - Swedish pancakes!  Very tasty even just with raw sugar.  Then we grabbed a bike for our 12 km ride across the island to where our boat was waiting.  It was cloudy for a while, then sunny and almost unbearably hot as we cycled up very slight hills.  A few minutes short of the harbor we stopped to swim at a beautiful beach we had all to ourselves, and Kelsey and I stayed in the water until we were all waved in that it was time to go.

We spent most of the ride back sitting on the side of the boat, feet over the water, through the serene waters to the harbor.  Now we are in a van back for the 5 hour drive back to Hanoi. Staying at a hotel one night and another adventure tomorrow into the countryside, and apparently spending the night in a home with no AC...

Ha Long Bay

Took a 3 1/2 hour air conditioned bus ride to Halong Bay.  Beautiful day with just a few clouds.  Got on boat with 12 other people, from France, Belgium and the U.S.  Next oldest after me was probably 33.  Simple accommodations, a room with 2 twin beds on the lower deck, basic bathroom with European type shower in the room. We had lunch family style with a good variety of Vietnamese food.  Then we cruised around the bay which is a huge area with over 1900 islands.  Kong: Skull Island was filmed here - I watched it on the plane here, didn't like the movie, but got an idea of what I was going to see. There were tons of tour boats of all sizes and levels of luxury.  There was a disappointing amount of plastic garbage floating in the water.  This is a UNESCO world heritage site, but that doesn't seem to matter. We sat on the upper deck which had lounge chairs and an awning as we went farther into the bay away from all the boats to a more quiet spot with a couple other boats and less debris in the water.  Lots of jellyfish in these waters and even though you aren't allowed to swim there, I wouldn't want to anyway.

We kayaked to a cave on one of the islands.  The climb scrambling up rocks, some of which were wet, was a little treacherous, but I made it to a beautiful view of the water.  Kayaked around a couple islands to another cave with an even more beautiful view - we hadn't brought our cameras in the kayak unfortunately.  Had dinner and then bedtime.  They only put the AC on in the rooms after dinner, but it was wonderful being able to sleep in cool air.  In the morning we took the boat to another cave.  

This time there were stairs up part of the way, then rock climbing to an overlook of a lake in the middle of the island, just gorgeous.  More climbing rocks to a lookout, then back to the boat. 

 
 
Cruised back to the harbor sitting on the upper deck under the awning and chatting with other passengers a little.  Now we are in an air conditioned van to another port where we get on another boat to a less traveled, more remote bay, Bai Tu Long Bay.

Thank goodness for clouds

Got off the train on Thursday about noon and walked to our hotel.  It was sunny and very hot and humid.  We didn't have a lot of energy for exploring...  We went out for a walk to the nearby small lake in the middle of the city with a Tortoise Tower statue in the middle.  Went inside the Hotel Metropole, an old fancy French hotel famous for being where journalists covering the French and American wars stayed. Had a pasta and pizza late lunch which was quite good, then back to the hotel for a quick nap and swim. Early bedtime for me.

Friday was a full day around Hanoi - still very hot and humid, but the clouds came in mid-day for a while for a respite from the heat.  We are just used to sweating all day and enjoying whatever air conditioning there is in the museums. Went to Museum of Ethnology in the morning, very interesting museum with indoor and outdoor displays about the lives of the 54 ethnic groups which live in Vietnam. I had no idea there were so many.

Harvest baskets

Then went to the park and gardens around the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum.  Walked to the Temple of Literature and the site and grounds of a university that started about 1049.

Ate lunch near there at a cafe run by an Australian non-profit and shared fried spring rolls and lemon grass and garlic chicken with rice and greens. We each got a beer.  Total bill was the equivalent of $15.  We walked to the Women's Museum which covers the lives of women in Vietnam, from family life and the way each group produces special textiles for traditional clothing - embroidery, batik, weaving - to their assistance in the war efforts against both the French and the Americans.

Dodged our way across the streets, then back to the hotel.

Went out for a walk Friday night to the Old Quarter and the Market which is held on Friday and Saturday nights. 85° and lots and lots of people.  Sensory overload for two country girls.  :)  Bought chips and beer for dinner and went back to our room.  (Passed the young French couple from the train on the street on the way there.  Had earlier seen him in the Women's Museum. Random sightings in a big city!) Tomorrow we are off on a 3 day 2 night tour including Halong Bay.