We’ve spent the last week or so checking out what North Vietnam has to offer. A lot, it turns out. Therefore we have like a million photos. Very tough to pick the best ones so we have a lot in this blog entry!
Hanoi
Hanoi was just another busy big Vietnamese city and not particularly noteworthy, in our opinion, although we did enjoy it there. One of the more interesting attractions was the preserved body of Ho Chi Minh (Uncle Ho), a past Prime Minister and communist revolutionary who died 40 years ago tomorrow (2 September 1969). Although he requested to be cremated after his death, his body was instead put on public display inside a large elaborate Mausoleum where it still remains today, and every day thousands of people flock to see him. We were very surprised at the large number of Vietnamese coming to pay their respects. One woman was even crying as she walked through. The tour also brings you around to the old house where he used to (apparently) live. It shows some very basic and simple furnishings and tries to convey the minimal non-materialistic life he led.....but we don’t buy it....it looks like communist propaganda to us!
Oh, and while we’re on the subject of dead Vietnamese people, we recently learned of an unusual belief that they have: Every month, some Vietnamese burn some fresh crisp bank notes – the theory is that they are sending the money to their dead relatives so they can buy some food (or beer or wine!) in the afterlife!
Sapa
After Hanoi, we took an overnight train (our first) up to the mountainous countryside of Sapa. The train journey itself was an experience, or rather the company in our 4-bed cabin was. We arrived to find a few Vietnamese people sitting on our beds. They stood up to let us in, but when we sat down, they shoved us over and sat down beside us (on our beds)! They settled in quite comfortably in fact – even putting their feet up on the sheets. We didn’t know what to make of them but they did eventually get up and go to sleep on their beds. Although the next morning, the older guy (who was getting off at an earlier stop) came back down, pushed Conor’s legs out of the way and sat back down again (although Conor was asleep at the time). When the guy finally left, he helpfully left the door open and the lights on....this was at about 4.30am. We had heard that people in South East Asia don’t have the awareness of people’s personal space, although this was the first time we experienced it so can’t complain.
Hanoi
Hanoi was just another busy big Vietnamese city and not particularly noteworthy, in our opinion, although we did enjoy it there. One of the more interesting attractions was the preserved body of Ho Chi Minh (Uncle Ho), a past Prime Minister and communist revolutionary who died 40 years ago tomorrow (2 September 1969). Although he requested to be cremated after his death, his body was instead put on public display inside a large elaborate Mausoleum where it still remains today, and every day thousands of people flock to see him. We were very surprised at the large number of Vietnamese coming to pay their respects. One woman was even crying as she walked through. The tour also brings you around to the old house where he used to (apparently) live. It shows some very basic and simple furnishings and tries to convey the minimal non-materialistic life he led.....but we don’t buy it....it looks like communist propaganda to us!Oh, and while we’re on the subject of dead Vietnamese people, we recently learned of an unusual belief that they have: Every month, some Vietnamese burn some fresh crisp bank notes – the theory is that they are sending the money to their dead relatives so they can buy some food (or beer or wine!) in the afterlife!
Sapa
After Hanoi, we took an overnight train (our first) up to the mountainous countryside of Sapa. The train journey itself was an experience, or rather the company in our 4-bed cabin was. We arrived to find a few Vietnamese people sitting on our beds. They stood up to let us in, but when we sat down, they shoved us over and sat down beside us (on our beds)! They settled in quite comfortably in fact – even putting their feet up on the sheets. We didn’t know what to make of them but they did eventually get up and go to sleep on their beds. Although the next morning, the older guy (who was getting off at an earlier stop) came back down, pushed Conor’s legs out of the way and sat back down again (although Conor was asleep at the time). When the guy finally left, he helpfully left the door open and the lights on....this was at about 4.30am. We had heard that people in South East Asia don’t have the awareness of people’s personal space, although this was the first time we experienced it so can’t complain.
The climate in Sapa was a lot cooler and less humid than we’ve had recently so it was a very pleasant change. All the restaurants and hotel rooms have fire places and we even managed to have a cosy fire one night (and some wine).The town reminded us of the Livigno ski resort in the Alps....this must be how they look during the summer without snow.
The real beauty of Sapa lies in the fantastic scenery, in particular the terraced paddy-fields on the various hills. We rented a motorbike and spent a few days just cruising around and taking it all in. It was a bit difficult at times because the road was non-existent in some places (like with streams going across the road, or the surface just collapsed away). It was definitely one of the most scenic places we’ve visited on our whole trip so far. They say a picture paints a thousand words so here are a few thousand words that will describe it better than we can:
The real beauty of Sapa lies in the fantastic scenery, in particular the terraced paddy-fields on the various hills. We rented a motorbike and spent a few days just cruising around and taking it all in. It was a bit difficult at times because the road was non-existent in some places (like with streams going across the road, or the surface just collapsed away). It was definitely one of the most scenic places we’ve visited on our whole trip so far. They say a picture paints a thousand words so here are a few thousand words that will describe it better than we can:
The town, and surrounding countryside, is full of people from local hill-tribes. There are a number of different tribes and they all speak their own languages (and English). They wear traditional dress and try to sell their hand crafts. One tribe has a weird sense of fashion, wearing a ponytail on their forehead, and fix it in place with a random comb. They were interesting in how they lived but much of what they did, appeared to be for the tourists.
Oh yeah, and for those keeping track of the various foodstuffs that we’ve encountered, one of the less pleasant sights in Sapa was the dog meat available in the local market.
Halong Bay
We finished off our tour of North Vietnam with a short trip to Halong Bay. It’s a large bay with 
thousands of limestone mountains/islands jutting out of the water in unusual jagged and rounded shapes. We spent two days and one night sailing around the bay on a very nice boat with a fun group of Germans – yes they do exist – and one English guy. The tour included some kayaking around the bay and into some tight hidden caves. When we kayaked out the other end of one of the caves, we found ourselves inside a lagoon that was surrounded, all 360 degrees, by rocky mountain. But we couldn’t stay long because the tide was rising and our tiny exit was closing! We also explored (by foot) the local “Amazing Cave”. It was very large, possibly the biggest cave we’ve ever been in, and it lived up to its name being actually pretty amazing. And of course there was some craziness of jumping off the top floor of the boat into the water. It was quite hazy during our time there so our pictures don’t really do it justice.
The picture with the motorbike going over the stream - there's a place just like that on the Dingle Penninsula in Kerry.
ReplyDeleteI see you digitally enhanced one of those pictures. It actually makes Conor look tall. Wait, on closer inspection, Conor is up on his toes and Kadi is bending her knees to enhance the effect.
ReplyDelete