Hoi An to Hanoi

I have been trying to find time to post on the blog but we have been caught in a whirlwind of traveling, now feeling the time crunch of less than a month to go in our tour of SE Asia. We are "done" with Vietnam and are now in Laos in the beautiful peaceful town of Luang Prabang. Internet is slow here so I will post some pictures when we have faster connection. Meanwhile hope you enjoy the voyage from Hoi An to Hanoi and points in between.

In the last post we visited heaven and hell which was a side trip from the lovely town of Hoi An. Hoi An felt like a French village with an Asian twist. The architecture of the old town is straight out of colonial France typified by stuccoed houses with large terraces and balconies accessed by shuttered French doors. The town is on an estuary so the action centers around the waterfront. The town is totally dependent on the tourism industry and they mostly got it "right" here. It is clean, well organized and well maintained. Quaint shops, restaurants and cafes line the streets. It almost feels like Disneyland because it is almost too perfect. Ian said it felt like a cartoon backdrop that never changes because as one walks down the street one passes a series of souvenir shops, tailors, restaurants and barsthat are interchangeable. Deb and I found it a welcome relief from the nondescript and often dirty other Vietnamese towns.

There were fewer motos here and they were banned from the old town on alternate days which was pleasant indeed. It was calm enough that we felt secure enough to rent bicycles and ride around the town and surroundings. We had several pleasant days riding out to a nearby beach. The trip to the beach was a scenic ride through rice paddies to arrive at a beautiful beach that was thinly populated but had a few beach side restaurants that for the price of a beer, would allow you sit on their lounges under a palapa umbrella for the day. The water was clean and warm with almost enough surf to body surf but not so powerful as to be frightening. While in Hoi An we also fell prey to the urge to buy some tailor made clothing which is a whole other story.

We finally tore ourselves away from Hoi An as we were now feeling the clock ticking realizing we had little more than a month left to see the rest of Vietnam, Laos and Thailand. We caught an agonizingly slow bus to the town of Hue which was described in the guidebook as “sweet gentle Hue”---it was anything but. Hue is where the consciousness of the people seemed to shift from the more laid back attitude of the south (which was by no means laid back by western standards) to the hustle bustle of the north with emphasis on all meanings of the word hustle. Aside from the fact that Hue was a very fast paced city, it started to feel like everyone was trying to hustle or scam us. Shopkeepers would shortchange us. Hotels would quote rates in dollars and when we paid in Vietnamese dong would give horrible exchange rates. Hue was way too busy with way too many motos in addition to being was hot and very humid. In defense of Hue, there were a few sights of historical significance including a palace from the 19th century that was slowly being restored from damage caused by the good old USA during the war. There were also several ornate temples and tombs of kings.

Still feeling the time crunch, we opted to fly on to Hanoi for our last week in Vietnam. We thought Hanoi would be a good base for a few day trips Nihn Binh, some outlying pagodas and the very beautiful Ha Long Bay.

After an early morning flight which dropped us into the morning madness of Hanoi's rush hour, we made our way to the Old Quarter of Hanoi jammed knee to elbow with a dozen other tourists and their luggage in a mini van designed for half as many. We walked about ¾ of a mile to our hotel through the narrow streets of the Old Quarter teeming with motos, cyclo cabs, and coolies carrying everything imaginable from passengers, to pigs to refrigerators. When the sidewalks weren’t covered with parked motos, they were blocked by street cafes with patrons sitting on kid sized plastic stools sucking in the fumes of the motos along with their morning pho. Pedestrians had to sharethe street with sidewalk to sidewalk motor traffic. After fifteen minutes of dodging motos and cyclo cabs we arrived at our hotel slightly dampened by the cool morning drizzle. After freshening up and dropping our bags, we hit the street again to further sample the chaos of Hanoi. The incessant buzz and beeping of the motos was enough to drive any sane person crazy. Thank god we aren’t sane.

Despite the chaos, we liked Hanoi. There is an energy and vitality there that was not present in most of the other cities we visited in Vietnam. Perhaps it is the energy of a city that is a 1000 years old. Perhaps it is the legacy of Uncle Ho who brought freedom from the yoke of over 100 years of French domination and brought them to new heights after defeating the good old USA in the war. Perhaps it is the influx of all manner of people from all corners of Vietnam to take advantage of the economic opportunities as a result of the implementation of the free market economy 15 years ago.

Stay tuned for an account of our visit with Uncle Ho.