We made it to Vietnam just in time for Tet, the lunar new year or as most of us know it the Chinese New Year.  We started off in Hanoi, a bustling metropolis full of French colonial era architecture with the full flavor of the Vietnamese culture visible on every street.

West Lake in the center of Hanoi all a glow for the Tet New Year celebration.

For some reason most of the streets consist of all stores selling the same product.  For instance on a nightly stroll we came across a street in which every store sold shoes, you name it you could find it, watch out DSW.  The beautiful west lake area sets the tone of the country with over crowded streets filled with people and every other mode of transportation working together.

DSW better watch out!

Traffic and walking, at first glance is totally insane but you quickly realize the insanity can be managed.  There are no lanes or traffic lights and one-way streets aren’t really one way.  The catch is that everyone drives slowly so your trip is really just a constant merging from side to side in and out of other scooters, cars and people.  It really works, like a symphony of different instruments all working together to create a constant flow of moving people.  We crossed a street with about 6 lanes and since there are no lights there was no gap in traffic.  So you just cross one step at a time while all the traffic streams in front of or behind you.  Imagine taking 495, remove the painted lines, add a few million scooters and slow it down to 25 mph.  Now throw in people crossing by foot every 15 feet or so and now you have Hanoi.  Honking has a different meaning as well, a honk only means move over because I’m coming through, not hurry up or get out of my way.

Chaos in the streets!

We were really excited about Vietnam because we heard how great the country is for touring and we are very interested in the Vietnam war history so a trip to the prison where US pilots that were shot down were held (jokingly referred to as the Hanoi Hilton) was first on our list.  This is when I first realized that Vietnam views what they call the American war as an invasion by the US.  I feel like we were always taught we came in to support the south.  When touring the Hanoi Hilton I was even asked by an older British lady how I felt about being here.  So the US was viewed as the bad guys and street bullies carpet-bombing the north.   However we are still very welcome, the older generation isn’t quite over it but the younger generations love the US and our culture.    Much like any younger generation…they feel less attached since they didn’t live it.  Speaking of carpet-bombing, the US dropped twice as many bombs in Hanoi as we did in the entire WWII.  One of our guides was 11 during the Hanoi bombings, he said B-52’s flew together in formation and would drop bombs leveling an area a mile long by 300 yards wide.  He would hide in the sewer like everyone else who was in the street when they heard the roaring engines overhead.  The sewer became a way of life.  As our guide put it, people have a basic need to feel safe so living in the sewer helped to met that need in a tumultuous time.

The Ho Chi Min Mausoleum, where he lies in the open somehow preserved since 1969, let us see the communist culture in full effect.  Heavily guarded and strictly enforced rules like walking from the ticket booth to the museum a few hundred yards in a tight single file line made us feel the restrictions of life in a communist country. 

Our Guide in Hanoi at the Ho Chi Minh Complex

This was further enforced when our guide confirmed that if he were to speak loudly in opposition to the government it would be “a problem” and one of the many soldiers would take some level of action.  Thankfully we aren’t pro democratic activists like the US was in 1965 so it was easy to keep our mouths shut.

After the Ho Chi Minh Complex, we made our way to the The Temple of Literature which is a temple of Confucius in Hanoi.  The temple hosts the “Imperial Academy” which is Vietnam’s first national university. The temple was built in 1070!  Whoa!  This museum also shows the history of the “Royal Examinations” which started during Chinese occupation in 1075 and they continued for almost 1,000 years.  Basically the examinations were held all across region regardless of your background, in other words even the working class would get a chance, and the winners would be rewarded with a doctorate and then they could marry the King’s daughter and could be one of his advisors.  Nice that the King just didn’t trust his family and personal posse…he actually wanted to find the smartest in the land to help advise him.  The French stopped the Royal Examinations by the end of 1919 and set up western education.  So, at that point women could be educated.

Greg looking scholarly at The Temple of Literature.

The people are so kind and accomodating so service at the hotels and restaurants was second to none.  Beyond the visibly cheerful smiles the people are playful as well.  They want to talk and practice their English, joke and have you wear their traditional garb and of course buy something, buy anything, from the masses of walking street vendors.  A few fabulous French meals, some gym time and we are off to Halong Bay.

We cruised in Halong Bay, which is in the gulf of Tonkin.  We had never heard of the place before we started planning for Vietnam and all I can say is they need to fire their marketing director.   Really breathtaking scenery of a few thousand, yes I said thousand, small-uninhabited islands one after another for as far as the eye can see.  Boats called Junks that resemble Mississippi River boats weave in and out of the islands for the entire three-day cruise.

Our “Junk” boat, The Au Co. The boat is just under 2 years old.

We hopped off at one island and went for a short bike ride and walk in the jungles but other than that you just stay on the boat and enjoy the scenery and daily happy hour.  The thousands of islands are so closely packed together the boat slips by the tiny corridors where you can almost touch the sides of the steep rock formations.  With a little haze each day the sparsely covered black rock and green grass formations give the scene a mystical feel like a Harry Potter meets Alice in Wonderland movie set.  We met a couple that we ended up having dinner with two of the nights and we had a brilliant proper conversation (they are hard core British so we heard a ton of brilliant, proper and the bees knees during the trip).  🙂 Alex’s family has traced back their lineage 1,000 years and was part of history, as we know it and he knows his family’s coat of arms and can tell stories about kings and queens, towns falling and good drama added to the King Henry the x legacy.  Catriona and Alex were on their honeymoon so we had to have a proper celebration with them.  Not very challenging since they were wiser than the 30 years they have lived, and any good London accent makes you sound smart so I was listening intensely.  🙂  On that note also add the word “lovely” to your vocabulary and you too can sound intelligent.

Back to Hanoi to celebrate Tet with our buddies Alex and Catriona.  Like our New Years where everyone celebrates and watches fireworks the streets were jammed packed all night with a visible build up of police.  However since the east has a stronger cultural and historical attachment to the past this holidays is taken seriously.  Shops close for 6-9 days and everyone travels to see family, say sorry for anything and to anyone in order to start the new year with a clean slate.  Certain trees, types of money, types of foods are important to start the New Year with “luck”.  We were our tour guides first clients of the year and he really believed he would be lucky this year.  This is also a culture that has lucky or favorite numbers, animals, etc….all taken very serious.  It would be good if we had a little more historical culture mixed into our life, on that note I declare the #2 and #14 my lucky numbers and the dog to be my lucky animal.  Watch out Vegas!   On second thought many probably would call this a superstition (an irrational belief that an object, action, or circumstance not logically related to a course of events influences its outcome.)

Greg and I are in need of a spa day!

We are over tour companies charging too much but also tired of planning on the internet so we are reverting to good old fashion networking.  A quick conversation with a table next to us set us on our way to Hoi An then to Hue (pronounced Hway) both a one hour plane trip south. Hoi An is another one of those quaint towns with the lasting charm of the old world.  A UNESCO heritage site like most of the places we have really enjoyed.  For future planning we now realize (only took 7 months) that if it is a UNESCO site it’s probably going to be our style.  It is like a historic designation in the US, it really limits what can change, build, etc.  Hoi An reminded both of us of a less developed Charlestown, SC.  The type of place you could stroll around for days, day or night in safety with small displays and festivals on a few of the riverbanks and street corners.  A bonsai display we came across was amazing but just a small piece of the street charm of the city.  A sunset boat cruise, some pagoda visits and a proper lovely night out with a couple we met at lunch and we are on our way via car to Hue.

VIETNAM PHOTOS: – Hanoi and Halong Bay

Please. 

Làm ơn. (lam uhhn)

Thank you. 

Cảm ơn. (kuhm uhhn)

Hello. 

Xin chào. (seen chow)

Oh my god!

Oy zay Oy! (Our driver to Ha Long bag taught us that one!)