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Off the train in the early morning and dropped our bags at the Sofitel Plaza Hanoi for one night since the Sofitel Metropole was completely booked. The Sofitel Plaza is a modern, 20-story hotel overlooking the West Lake in the Ba Dinh District. I wasn't thrilled about not being in my hotel of choice but rapidly changed my mind as we zoomed past an art exhibition in the lobby. And then, we walked by the beautiful Oriental "antique-curio" shop in the Sofitel's arcade, still closed at this early hour. The Sofitel Plaza definitely had possibilities.
Back in the car on the way to Bat Trang, on the itinerary for today. This was another stop that neither of us were enthused about but thought it was better than sitting around the Sofitel in the rain. The drive followed a road atop a dyke bordering the Red River, fairly uninteresting but surprisingly, we ended up having a great time in Bat Trang. The village is famous for its blue and white hand-painted ceramics, traditional designs, and there were some avant-garde designs. Bat Trang Ceramics even has an on-line website now. I almost had a nervous breakdown going in and out of a zillion ceramic shops but finally picked out some small paintings and little ceramic tea sets (doll-size) for young granddaughters ($1.00/set). Everything was so darn cheap and we really didn't expect looking at ceramics to be as engrossing as it was. It just goes to show .... you never know...
Hanoi map
Continue reading "Bat Trang Excursion and Back to Hanoi" »
Downtown Sapa...if you want to call it a downtown...was fascinating. Nasty, rainy, cold weather but still fascinating. Minorities everywhere dressed in distinct outfits, carrying those woven baskets on their backs. Narrow, muddy streets with people buying and selling, outside and indoors. The people were primarily Black Hmong wearing embroidered indigo-dyed clothing and wrap-on leggings. There are also Red Hmong, White Hmong, Flower Hmong and Green Hmong tribes. It all depends on the color of their costume The Red Dao (or Dazo) women we saw yesterday were taller and wore red cloth and turbans on their heads.
Walking around the market, I was struck by the difference in sizes when this tiny woman carrying a baby on her back, walked by ex-Marine. If you graphically want it driven home what hard work and malnutrition does to a person, this is it. ex-Marine is only 5'11" so imagine how little this fully-grown woman was!
Flower(?) Hmong woman and ex-Marine
Continue reading "More Sapa/Sa Pa Villages and Lao Cai" »
The Hanoi - Lao Cai train stops at Valley Lao Cai, just 40kms/24 miles from Sapa. Off the train with all the other Westerners, guides milling about holding up signs, and looking for their clients. Found our Guide and driver who were waiting with some bad news. It had been raining for days and was raining even as we spoke. This meant that the all important Bac Ha Market, held only on Sunday (today), was impossible to reach. Just too much mud and the roads were impassable even for our 4-WD vehicle. Very disappointing because the Bac Ha Market is "The Big Market" for the Flower Hmong to buy and sell their goods.
Not only was it currently drizzling, but cold and foggy - completely unexpected by us. Cool yes, cold no... With absolutely no choice in the matter, the guide suggested we eat a fast breakfast, head immediately to another small market before all the other tourists got the same good news as we and headed there also. Good plan and off we went.
Continue reading "Visiting Sapa/Sa Pa, In Vietnam's Hill Country" »
An early morning flight from Saigon to Hanoi, new guide and driver, and off to the Perfume Pagoda complex. Perhaps luck enters into it but ex-Marine and I have never not been met and greeted on every single independent tour ever taken. If you use reputable tour operators, this is a given. Guides and/or drivers have been late occasionally because of traffic but have eventually shown up. A very long day was planned culminating in an overnight train from Hanoi to Sapa (Sa Pa), almost on the China/Vietnam border, the main focus of this return to Vietnam.
The Perfume Pagoda, 50 miles south of Hanoi, is the bigest pagoda complex along with Buddhist shrines built into limestone cliffs, and took two hours by road through small Vietnamese villages. The wharf area was lined with row boats waiting to take us to Trinh Tru Temple/Pagoda along the Yen Stream (not a river). There were two kinds of boats - an iron boat that could hold 3-5 people and large wooden boats for up to 20 locals. The Yen Stream is edged by elaborate rice fields, grass, small paths, and temples. Almost all the row boats were rowed by women...strong people...and the row out was the most interesting part of the trip. Every now and then the women rowers would put on a spurt, racing their friends to break up the monotony. We passed shrimp fishermen with their nets, and other fish farms on the river.
women rowers
Continue reading "Perfume Pagoda (Huong Pagoda) and Victoria Express to Lao Cai" »
Mount Elephant was about nine miles south of Dalat, an eco-tourist site. ...View image... We reluctantly checked out of the Sofitel Palace (what is there not to like about staying in a palace) and headed for a one night stay in a house on stilts. But first, to Mount Elephant for some elephant riding.
The area was very forested, predominantly pine trees, and our elephant lumbered off on designated trails through the forest, and across streams with both of us holding on for dear life. As incredible as it sounds, we personally know someone who fell off an elephant in Thailand when the entire saddle loosened. It hadn't been tightened enough and, fortunately, he was unhurt. The falling off part didn't concern me as much as what could happen if I did fall off and the elephant either fell on top of me or tromped on body parts. That was not a pleasant thought.
Mount Elephant
Continue reading "Tuyen Lam Lake, Fairy Rock and Daroah Ethnic Village" »
Dalat is cool all year-round, set at 4,900 feet (1500m) and is a mixture of hills and European alpine resort. The town was established in 1897 as a resort for the French and there are still many colonial mansions around Dalat. There are a few ethnic minorities, Lat and Koho, living in the hills surrounding Dalat. It is also a top resort destination for Vietnamese couples to have their marriage ceremonies and honeymoon.
Dalat was a 200-mile ride from Saigon with a stop on the way to visit a tea factory and the community of "Chicken Village." Chicken Village is part of many all-day tours around Dalat because there is an enormous cement statue of a chicken at the town entrance - how very funny! It's impossible to know the true story about why there is a giant chicken there. Everyone has a different version but, supposedly, the giant chicken is supposed to scare predators away from the real chickens. I'd think that real predators would catch on after a while that this giant chicken never moves and lose their fear. Foreign tourists come here every day but we didn't spend much time. Stopped to photograph the chicken, a short walk and left.
giant chicken
Continue reading "On The Road to Dalat" »
A Thai Airways flight from Bangkok to Saigon (only 1-1/2 hour trip). Don't think I'm being insensitive but the majority of the Vietnamese people still refer to this city as Saigon, not Ho Chi Minh. Met at the airport and transfered to the Legend Hotel with free time over the next two days. The Legend was located facing the Saigon River within easy walking distance of Old Saigon, its restaurants and shops. Saigon has an estimated population of over eight million and it seemed that at least half of this population were riding smelly, noisy motorbikes. After 10 minutes on the streets, I had a sore throat and sinus infections are also very common. The motor bike pollution is so terrible that the people on the bikes wear face masks to keep from inhaling the fumes. A hectic and dirty, but exciting, city.
We stayed at the Sofitel Plaza Saigon the last time, just across from the former U.S. and French embassies. Who will ever forget scenes of the evacuation from the rooftop of the U.S. Embassy with the helicopter pilots trying to get just one more person out to the U.S. carriers. After stays in both hotels, I still like the Sofitel Plaza better. There is now a Park Hyatt Saigon, Sheraton Saigon, and Caravelle Hotel to choose from in the luxury range. FYI, luxury room prices are nothing like the prices in other countries...still quite reasonable.
Saigon map
Continue reading "A Return To Saigon (Ho Chi Minh)" »
Air? We flew Chicago to Bangkok via Tokyo on United (our airline of choice). You have many, many airlines to pick from since almost every major airline flies to Bangkok. For example: Aeroflot-Russian International, Air France, Asiana Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Cathay, China Southern Airlines, Japan Airlines, Korean Airlines, Lufthansa, Malaysian Airlines, Qantas, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, United Airlines, VietNam Airlines just to name some.
Hotel? Flying via Bangkok meant misconnecting to Vietnam. Decided to spend two days in Bangkok and checked in to the The Peninsula Bangkok. On the opposite end, we flew back to Bangkok, stayed at the Amari Airport Hotel for one night - across the landbridge from Don Muang Airport - a flew home early the next morning. This information is no longer relevant with the opening of the new Suvarnabhumi Airport. and United now connects via Hong Kong directly to Saigon.
Continue reading "Planning A New Vietnam Trip" »
Our first trip to Vietnam was over the Millenium and included Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City - but it will always be Saigon to me), the Mekong Delta, Nha Trang, Danang, Hue, Hanoi and Vietnam's first capital, Hoa Lu. ex-Marine (husband, Steve) and I couldn't get over the friendliness and lack of animosity towards Americans. Of course, America is not the only country responsible for dark periods in Vietnam. The Chinese conquered parts of the region in 111 BC and ruled for over 1,000 years. The French colonized the country in 1887 and controlled the emperors. And then came the Vietnam War from 1959 to 1975 with North fighting South over reunification. Over 1,400,000 Vietnamese died and close to 2,000,000 wounded which made this tolerance of Americans and Westerners even more amazing.
It took a trip to Vietnam to really personalize and make all those televisions images from the 1960's meaningful. We visited the "Hanoi Hilton" where Senator John McCain, spent five and a half years. Drove by Tan Son Nhut, and vividly remembered watching Bob Hope's annual Christmas show and hearing him say...welcome to Tan Son Nhut Air Force Base... We crawled down into the very narrow, claustrophobic Cu Chi tunnels that ran for over 120 miles underground at one time, watched a propaganda film and saw horrific booby traps. The tunnels were used by NLF guerrillas as hiding spots during combat, and served as communication and supply routes, and hospitals. The Cu Chi tunnels, more than anything else made us understand the futility of fighting the Vietnamese. And ex-Marine and I only went down into the foreigner tunnel, also known as the "fat person" tunnel, not the the deeper layers of tunnels. A very sad, enlightening experience.
Continue reading "A Return to Vietnam and Its Hill Country" »
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