Post 1 – Vietnam pre-trip ramble #1
Post 2 – Vietnam pre-trip ramble #2
Post 4 – It’s going to be a long flight
Post 8 – Marble Mountain/Hoi An
Post 13 – Hanoi to Cat Ba Island
Post 14 – Touring Cat Ba Island
So far we’ve suffered through three days of some pretty major jet lag, and are expecting at least two more. I think the worst part of a trip like this is the bumpy ride after vacationing in a place where there’s a 15 hour time differential.
So… we’ve each cast a secret ballot. Jessica gave the trip a six and I gave it a seven. But neither of us has slept a full night so far, so in retrospect, the grade we gave the trip may not be completely fair.
We pushed the envelope and flew a total of nine legs, took two ferry rides, two bus rides, two car rentals, and oh, about seven thousand taxi rides, all in 14 days. Yeah, we’re pretty pooped out, but we stayed healthy and kicking the entire time – a real blessing, and something we were continually concerned with. So, we ended up seeing what we think is a pretty fair amount of the country, and now, looking back, it seems remarkable how smooth our trip actually went. At one point though, we let our guard down and trusted a couple of guys on our boat ride to Cat Ba Island. Big mistake. They ended up with our little Sony point and shoot camera, and as goes hand-in-hand with loosing any camera, thinking of the photos that we lost stings the most. Thankfully, they were just snaps of us on one of those double-wide bicycle taxis in Hanoi. You know, when you hold it out at arms length and click, click, click. Yeah, it could be worse.
We did nearly miss our Saigon/Taipei flight (you know, the one that gets us out of the country?) with just five minutes to spare (literally), and both our High Sierra wheeled backpacks we were boasting about earlier self-destructed at our front door step when we got home. Two busted zippers and two busted handles, but those bags really put out for many a trip I’ll tell you.
Anyway, everyone is asking us how our trip was, and to tell the truth, we haven’t been popping off with the usual “it was great!” like after every other trip we’ve ever been on. It’s even difficult to describe Vietnam really. Millions of people, the vast majority of which live way below poverty level in unspeakable filth that you would have to see to believe, in close proximity and wearing face masks in an attempt to filter the polluted air that never ends. Millions of people who earn an average of $1100 in an entire year and who depend on tourist dollars to get by. Millions of touts along every street who don’t get “no thank you” and who become even more insistent if you make eye contact.
Contrasts everywhere, like trash-filled vacant lots and sinew-tough women selling fruit from shoulder-pole baskets right next to a Nine West or Gucci store. Street-side food stalls on nearly every street, packed with locals eating Pho using recycled chopsticks while sitting in little blue kiddie chairs at little blue kiddie tables. Bicycles and motorbikes stacked to the sky with the most unbelievable loads. Unregulated mind-numbing noisy crazy near-miss traffic. Where you have the choice of five-star service or the back-packer hostel. Where the sidewalks are used as motorbike parking lots and become racetracks when motorbikes need to get around clogged street traffic. Where fashionable women on motorbikes wear four-inch pumps or catch rides sidesaddle. Where American music seems to be everywhere, and where American mannequins and advertisement posters are in every store window. Where price tags are absent so tourists can pay the most. Where waiters bring the check, stand there smiling while waiting for payment, then inspect your American dollars for tears or unsightly wear. Where the cut flowers are more beautiful and the dirt is dirtier than anywhere else on the planet. Where millions of resilient people living in poverty smile at you everywhere you go. Where the impact on us was pretty fabulous and kind of horrible at the same time.
Our last morning in Cat Ba was spent on a 30 minute walk overlooking the coast. What a lovely scene God presented on our last morning.
You can’t read the sign from here, but it says “keep off the bridge”. Signs like this aren’t always very effective. No sir, not if getting a cool photo is a possibility…
Yep, it was worth it.
I guess I’d spill too if I had to make my paint brush out of weeds.
I probably won’t complain about my second floor office anymore.
We learned that there’s just no better way to top off a two week adventure than a night at the Sheraton.
No child seats needed in these parts, just a home-made seatbelt.
Remember the photo of the live “food dog for sale” back in post 14? Well… this may be them…
Shopping for that one great find.
Just a little something from the airplane window on the way back to the states.
Maybe it really was a solid eight after all. We’re glad we visited Viet Nam.
Chris and Jessica.
Chris and Jessica
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These photos show the huge variety of sights within the old quarter Vietnam’s capital. ”Hang” means merchandise, and there are somewhere around 50 very old and narrow, and very congested streets named for the wares sold there such as Hang Ca for “fish”. On our double-wide cyclo ride (taxi bike with a double seat in front) through the city (US$3/hr), we saw Bamboo St., Copper St., Silk St., Silversmith St, Hat St., Tin St., Sandals St, and I don’t know how many more streets. This was a pretty cool day for us.
