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Asian Wonders # 11: Docked at Ha Long Bay and an Overnight Adventure in Hanoi, Vietnam

Dragon 3 and 4 in my quest to find 9 meaningful dragons.

Ha Long Bay is located in northern Vietnam in the Gulf of Tonkin near the border with China (people in this region make daytrips to china for shopping and can return the same day) and 106 miles to Hanoi.  Ha Long Bay means “Bay of the Descending Dragon” in the Vietnamese language.

I woke early to be able to stand on the top deck to watch Ha Long Bay and the monument islands unfold.  At first I was disappointed because it was a foggy morning and misting as well.  But once one realizes that weather is an enhancement, you just cock your camera and start shooting.  Ha Long bay is counted as the most beautiful bay in the world and has been added to UNESCO’s list of important places to save. One of these photos is as good, as the one this cruise line uses for publicity.

Yes we did ride 3 almost 4 hours on a bumpy, pothole filled road to Hanoi from Ha Long Bay, Vietnam.  We journeyed through village after village. Each village while different had enough of the characteristics to make it Vietnam.  What a pleasure and a privilege to be here. But once again the history of our involvement arises.  They have gentle reminders, but show no outward animosity.  I will say that each major city we have visited seems to have a War Museum that you are taken to visit and it shows some of the military weaponry and the awful things done here.  Gulp, you want to say, “Sorry,” but I didn’t because who will I say it to?

Let us move on. The Vietnamese could not have been nicer to us or treated us with any more courtesy than if we were royalty. I thank them for that and I thank them welcoming us into their country once again in another time, on another level.

When we finally arrived in Hanoi, we had another interesting lunch.

After lunch we checked into our hotel and were then treated to a Cyclo-Ride. This is a chair, all your own, where you sit and are peddled into the center of the city for an hour. Remember all of those two-wheeled motorbikes and all the head on traffic I talked about? As your chair begins its ride, all of the traffic envelops you, and it was a new head trip altogether. After I got over feeling sorry for the guy peddling, I plunged into the experience.  I started to realize that even though I took as many photos as I could, I still could not capture the real street scene.  All manner of life is there. I saw a man getting a soapy shave in the middle of the scene, a haircut was in progress, several fellows peed in public, a woman squatted for her relief, small cooking done on the curbs, fruits and vegetables being sold, diapers being changed, families having a meal, everything being sold and all kinds of activities and exchanges were happening.  I even stared down a fellow having a beer, until we finally both cracked a smile.  I saw, everything being sold or shown, needed and or not needed, but honestly, one of the only things I did not see was copulating by man or beast. It was there, I am sure, but I just didn’t see it.

After the ride, I was told that one of the other peddlers would not let his occupant take photos. I was so grateful my driver let me be the boss I over tipped him. In looking over the photos, I can see it was something you had to be there to feel and understand because the photos are rather tame compared to the actual ride. There are so, so many photo opportunities that pass, connect to the brain, committed to the memory section, but are gone when the finger begin to push the button! Click! Gone!

Burn your trash at the side of the road.

We met our guide this morning in the Lobby of The Hotel Elegance and the moment you opened the door, you found yourself in the middle of everything happening. The intensity and density of the activity in the street causes momentary euphoria. A camera can capture many scenes, but density and intensity to humans escapes technology capabilities, so far. I think. Before we got started on the day’s touring activities, I opened the lobby door and went out to join the activity in the streets. I put myself in the middle of a bunch of ladies crowded around a particular seller of vegetables and fruit. The ladies bowed, actually smiled and huddled me into their circle. I just stood there absorbing the warmth of their bodies, the sounds of their voices, their smells, their hums and grunts and the buying and selling. They let me be part of them. Oh my! All too soon, I was called to join the tour.

We started the morning at Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum. This country loves him then, now and forever, and in this Mausoleum he lies for everyone to have a walk around and see him in his final resting place.  They say it is really his body even though people have accused his likeness to being perhaps wax.  Every year for two months he is not being viewed because of repairs that must be done to preserve him.  I will say that his room is so cold you can be sure that damage to him has been slowed down and his preservation enhanced.  Google Ho Chi Minh and see what an interesting man he was, life he led and some of the work did for the love of his country.

We continued on to the Literature University, which has a long history, but is no longer a working university.  It was begun in the 1300’s to educate the King’s children. At some point it was opened to about 1,000 students who passed rigid exams and showed great promise. Many of the top students were picked as Mandarins who served the king in many helpful as well as leadership roles.  There was once a prominent teacher who became the principal of this prestigious school.  His name was Chu Van An. He told the king that some of the Mandarins were not doing their jobs and the king repaid him my asking him to leave the school. Chu Van An left the school and went further up north to open a school for children in his village.  The king soon found that Chu Van An was absolutely correct in his assessments of some of the Mandarins and asked him to come back to his former position as principal.  Chu Van An refused the king’s offer to return to the university as principal and enjoyed teaching the children in his village for the rest of his life. This beautiful statue of Chu Van An is enjoyed by all who visit the university. The grounds of the old university are beautiful and they have been turned into quite a tourist attraction.

For a moment, please pause and look at this thousand year old tree.

We kept on going to see the beautiful Pagoda in West Lake called Tran Quoc.  We especially enjoyed this place of prayer and joined in with the donation first, the hands put together in prayer.  You shake hands once, twice and a third time. Then, you can give it an extra little spin and do it again.  Now, you are blessed and you know it.

We were served an extensive buffet lunch including many Vietnamese delicacies and then transferred the 3 ½ hours back to Ha Long Bay.  Since 3 ½ hours is a long time to go with out a break, so, we made a stop at a roadside business full of handmade souvenirs and an opportunity to see them being made.

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We are back on our cruise ship heading through the Straight of Taiwan to Huang Pu, China. Tomorrow, our guide will pick us up and drive us one hour to Guangzhou City/Canton City. After an overnight cruise, we will head into Hong Kong, our final destination.

Remember I told you I am looking for nine dragons? Why, Why not? So here is dragon # 2

After one and one half hours of driving through the most interesting countryside, dotted with rice patties and one village after another, we arrived in Hue (the former capital of Vietnam under the Nguyen Dynast of emperors from 1802 until 1945. Hue is a beautiful town with many lovely buildings.

A special day to be driving because it was a Sunday and all the little towns had their market day. The whole village was out selling or buying. What an array of items being sold. What an array of people buying. What a crowd. We passed a funeral. The mourning woman was dressed in white and the procession of monks and musicians passed in front of her, then she came walking and  all of her friends and relatives brought up the rear.

After an hour and a half of looking out of the window you get a stiff neck, but aside from that, you get some ideas.  Street after street you see run down patched homes, dirt streets, poverty, and beyond shabby, dilapidated, worn out, poorly maintained, and the barest essentials of all manner of life passing by your window, but every ten blocks or so, you see a place of business selling gowns, ball gowns, elegant dresses to wear for very special occasions. The dichotomy is so fascinating. The Vietnamese are very fashionable and do dress up to walk in the dirt and mud in their fancy stylish shoes.

This day was spent in and around the 17^th parallel, the Demilitarized Zone in Central Vietnam. They have the philosophy that you close your mind to the past so that you can think of the future. In the area of Hue there are bigger, longer tunnels where people lived for years. Remember the Vietnamese are no strangers to fighting for their independence. The were dominated by the Chinese for 1,000 years, by the Japanese for a much shorter period of time by the French and then came along the Americans trying to unify the country. It was pointed out that the government has a great hold on the people now. They tax them on everything, try to govern their lives as much as possible and where the government ends, the corruption begins. Wow.

We first visited the Forbidden City, then a visit to Thien Mu Pagoda, which is on the riverbank of the Perfume River. It is a beautiful Pagoda having seven floors that make up the tower of the Pagoda. The river is named the Perfume River because in days long ago, boatloads of fresh beautiful smelling flowers were delivered to the city from the river, therefore, named the Perfume River alluding to the wonderful smells of the flowers.

In front of the Pagoda, we boarded a Dragon Boat for a ride down the river to the local Dong Ba Market where we bargained for precious junk. We all did get some things and bargaining is fun, until they take over and they are really in your face.  This is a matter of their survival and they see you as what they need. Glad we were with our guide. We did not need him, but nice to have a back up.

Scenes from the Market:

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We were treated to a special lunch and  all of the dishes of food were presented in such an unusual and beautiful way.  I have photographed some of  the presentations so that you would be able to enjoy the presentations as well.

When we came out of the restaurant we saw cows roaming the side streets. Cows are loved and raised to eat!.

I had seen some Water Buffalo on the way into Hue and asked the guide if there could be a way for him to stop so we could photograph water buffalos.  He promised if he saw them on our way back he would stop.  True to his word he stopped and asked who would like to go. Just me. I got a little stop-on-the-road private tour. We had to cross the hugely busy street and he was the expert who got the job done.  Once across the street we had to walk down the road, down an embankment and you have living proof of my slightly off the beaten track adventure. Oh I was so happy and I am so lucky!

I, on my floating palace, glide into Vietnam, feeling like an ingrate, almost a traitor. Why? I think it is because of all that I remember, all of the Veterans of the Vietnam war that tell their stories, all of the tears, the lingering wounds, the loss of dignity for all mankind and the regeneration now that makes me feel these perplexing and mystifying emotions.

Here is what Good Morning Vietnam looks like:

Just yesterday some of us were complaining that the food was not too flavorful on the palace, that Wi-Fi is ninety-five cents a minute, that it was too windy, too hot, too cold, that the toilet paper is so cheap that when moistened, it sticks to your fingers, etc. and here I am on the palace balcony this Vietnam morning crying. I am crying for all that I do not know, do not understand, and for what secrets I might uncover about two countries at a time in history that I remember.

One thing I learned is that the Vietnamese call the war, The American War, whereas we call it the Vietnam War.  Another thing I earned is that all sides in times of war can be terribly atrocious.

Did you know that the official name for Vietnam is: The Socialist Republic of Vietnam?

There is a legend that tells of Ling Lac Long Quan, aka “The Dragon of the Sea who married Princess Au Xo a Chinese immortal from the High Mountains.  It is said that she bore him one hundred eggs and each egg hatched a son. Each took 50 sons. The Dragon of the Sea took his fifty to the south and the Princess took hers north into the high mountains.  This legend attempts to explain the importance of the uniting of the two main geographic and cultural areas of Viet and Nam.

Creating a unified Vietnam.

Of the population as a whole in Vietnam, sixty-five percent is under thirty years of age.  They think Gucci, Mercedes, electronics, they think of career, family and making money in that order. Think about where such a young thinking population will take their country.

OHMYGOSH, OHMYGOODNESS, OHMYGOLLY, OHMYGOOSE OHMYGANDER, OHMYGLORY, OHMYGLADNESS, OHMYGREATNESS, OH MY!

The city of Saigon has its true exotic, eclectic wondrous sights full of motorcycles, mopeds and bicycles of all nature motorized and foot and leg powered. People, people and more people are everywhere. I don’t know how our driver did it, but he did a great job from morning until night two days in a row. Eight million people in Saigon have five million mopeds. Don’t even think of crossing the street. Just being surrounded on all sides, front and back by two wheeled vehicles crisscrossing your space and crowding you is like a theme park ride that does not end until you have come to your destination.

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In Saigon, we enjoyed the Post Office an important site, The War Museum, the Rex Hotel, The Opera House, the Notre Dame Cathedral, Chinatown and a very special Temple there, the Ben Thanh Market, the night lights all over Saigon City making it reminiscent of Times Square in New York City and towards evening, the warm moist air sensitively and delicately embraces you.

I loved our visit in Saigon and found myself gasping because I could not get enough of it. I wanted to run out of the van and run up and down the streets touching and looking at everything. I wanted to say hello to everyone. How silly, but I felt so alive. As it is, we spent two days on the go without much rest.  When I got into the elevator on the ship, I took the last spot available, gushing with love and excitement and blabbing about how wonderful the sights and sounds of this city are; everyone just groaned and then looked at me with silent vacant stares.  I did not have a fellow gusher in the group. Oops. What did I see and feel that my elevator mates did not? They saw the poverty, the people sitting in their shacks all day long doing nothing much. They saw people struggling to survive.  They saw little children with no futures.  They saw crumbling buildings covered with black mold and masses of people huddled together in such small living spaces, crowed onto one street after another.  The traffic is abominable and the honking goes on every time you pass someone. The air is atrocious because everyone on the roads, riding in the streets, and walking are wearing facemasks. There is a serious air pollution problem here and probably because there are so many cars, trucks and two and three wheeled vehicles on the road. The industrial section of Saigon is a ways out of city central. Some of the hats have built in masks attached at one end with Velcro on the opposite end. Maybe my elevator mates heard about the wide spread corruption in Saigon. If you want to open a business here, you have to know how to work a permission payment and make continued payments. Perhaps t/hey saw the trash and perhaps I saw through it. There is an abundance of trash thrown hither and yon. I wanted to start a house-to-house campaign called “Clean Up Trash Day” and the whole city would do it together. Fat chance. It seems the trash is there to stay. As long as the trash is twenty steps from the living spaces, it seems fine for the people. What would it take to clean up the trash in and around Saigon? A miracle!

To learn this city would take along while, but we got a good head start. It was a complex, intricate involvement that enveloped I guess, me, to the fullest extent and like I stated left me gasping, breathless and looking to inhale more.

We toured the Cu Chi tunnels, which are an underground system of tunnels that is extremely complex and were constructed by the Vietnamese fighters.  By day the people worked on rubber plantations and other jobs in the city of Cu Chi, but at night the work carving out the tunnels went on unnoticed.  This underground system of tunnels has three floors, and looks like an ant colony has constructed it.  The Vietnamese soldiers had living quarters, cooking quarters, meeting spaces, and special secret entrances, plus hand constructed bamboo traps and other traps so that anyone looking for the tunnels, or innocently stepping in the wrong place would be stopped before they reached any knowledge of the tunnels. This tunnel system was also known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail and reached out to the Saigon River, which gave the Viet Cong easy access.  Below you will see photos of the secret entrances that were so small that American’s may not have been able to enter. Also this complex system had ventilation holes. The Vietnamese are proud to show you their accomplishment in their fight for independence.

Bamboo Trap

We visited a lacquer factory and listened to the presentation on how these products are made.

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"The corn is as high as an elephant's eye."

Today I had a special privilege and it was to venture out into the Ayutthaya province in Thailand. It has been in existence since 1350 when King U thong went there to escape a smallpox outbreak.  It grew and in the 1600’s it was one of the largest cities at that time. Ayutthaya was called Siam, but the people of Ayutthaya called themselves Thai. Before we went to the historical sites, and the draw for many were the elephant rides. Elephants are not smooth because of their bulk each step pulls along a gigantic body, which jostles the rider with every movement.  I was decidedly pleased to be pried off the elephants back, but I do hope the crabby old dude remembers me for the next ride.

Diane and Sheila riding the crabby elephant.

When you are in Thailand you defer to Buddha, I certainly enjoy the beautiful presence of each one we encountered.

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During the long ride there and back I noticed many things along the way. The country loves the king and queen. The king was born on a Monday, so as you can see the yellow flag is flow along with the Thai flag. I will explain flag colors below.  You can see many squares of special tributes to their king. See one here;

The countryside is full of rice paddies and when we stopped for lunch, rice was included. It had a distinctly fresh grown taste, notably different from the rice we get far from here.

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The older generations did not go by the calendar so they would be able to tell the day of the week by the color of the flag flown. Monday, yellow, Tuesday is pink, Wednesday is green, Thursday is orange, Friday is blue and Saturday is purple. I cannot remember Sunday. Those of you on your computers look it up for me, and let me know.  If I turn on the Wi-Fi connection it will cost me $20.00. Shipboard Wi-Fi is very costly. I know they donated a nice amount of precious minutes, but slow processing has eaten those up. Plus when there are people using it, it is even slower.  I cannot even begin to tell you how much each blog cost, so I will not, but I have made up my mind to do it no matter the cost.

Thai people are taught to keep their feelings inside and always keep smiling.  It is not that they don’t have negative and strong feelings, they are taught to leave them inside to present a happy face.  The older generation is tuned into this, but the younger generation is different. Still in all age groups there is a strong work ethic, a smile, a nod or a hello.

Ayutthaya Historical Park.  When you enter these grounds, the stillness of this historical park envelops you, and many things come to mind. Each mind is a personal venue not privy to anyone else, but you can nearly feel the thoughts of others in the present.  No thoughts and feelings of those that came before, by the way.  I knew from all that I was seeing that I had been here before.  Now, don’t stop reading, I know I get off on spiritual, ecumenical tangents, but this is the truth. Many years ago we had a wonderful tour by Gate I and they covered the territory from south to north in lovely Thailand.  So when, I say I have been to the Ayutthaya Historical Park before, I am not in any ethereal state.  So I have been there before, but what is not to love and remember?Here are some photos of my return visit, just as beautiful and powerful as the first time.

Visit to Bang Pa-In Summer Palace

In the photos you will see only a tiny fragment of the beauty of this lovely Palace. In fact, it is so expansive we were assigned four to a golf cart and given directions to ride around for a while stopping here and there. This once was beautiful and powerful and served the Kings of the past, now it is as beautiful and powerful tourist attraction.

You have heard the saying, “Up to your neck in hot water,” referring to being in trouble. If I remember it correctly that is what it means. Thailand had terrible floods about three weeks before we came. The floods have reseeded leaving distinct waterlines marking its presence. I learned to read the waterlines on the buildings from the bus as we travel through many cities and especially the villages. Most watermarks looked like the water came up to exactly up to my neck. My goodness! Now one realizes why so many houses in gullies and lower lying ground are on stilts.

P.S. If you are in need of facilities in Thailand, you do not say, where is the bathroom or the rest room, or wash room or ladies room, even pishatorium will not get you there. You will get questioning eyes.  The minute you say where is the “Happy House” you get nods and directions pointed with hands right, left, left, right and there, “Happy House.”

I would like to thank the generous offer of 500 free Wi-Fi minutes from Oceania Cruise Lines.  They read my TravelBlogs with photos and wanted me to be able to continue writing them from their ship.  I thank them.

I also want to thank Frosch Classic Cruises and Travel for offering me a gift of free Wi-Fi minutes to continue my writing and posting as well.

Did you know that when monks pee, it is forbidden among so many other things to make a peeing sound? They must sit and angle in just the right way.  We are traveling with our dear friends, Drs. D and A “P”, one who is our well loved  confidant and one who is our well loved and respected Urologist! He says that for a man to sit it is harder, very much harder for him to clear the bladder. I think the next donation to the monks should be truckloads of Cipro, or perhaps catheters. Catheters are silent.  I do not mean to cast any disparaging remarks on anyone’s chosen path, just informing you.

It is raining; the sun is trying to peer through the clouds leaving a long tail across the sea, and the pathway it portrays is heading straight for me. There is a meaning here, a path always suggests a direction. A path is a new start. A path is a suggestion. A path is a choice.

WHERE ARE WE?

How many of you do well in high degrees of heat and equal amounts of humidity?  Raise your hands.  Traveling in weather conditions other than perfect is hard, harder still when the distances you have to travel in these conditions are far, far away.  We are docked at the pier, which is a distance from Bangkok proper, which is of course not ideal. We had to travel nearly an hour by shuttle to go to the entrance to a large lovely mall, only to take a taxi to our chosen destination. Our chosen direction is the big weekend market way across town. It is so large that it can take all day to see everything. We enjoyed much of the market until the heat and the exhaustion took over. I am happy to share some photos of the nicest people on earth. Thai people have been so friendly, helpful and kind. Every time I asked to take a picture, everyone responded with a yes and posed.  They were happy to share themselves with the camera and with me.

Look at them, they are beautiful and you can just see their souls oozing from them onto the camera lens. Special sparkles were abundant in the heat of the day. I thank them for their ability to say yes and mean it.

Look it is really HOT here!! Proof!