Sapa In the Northwest Mountains near the Chinese Border

Tuesday evening we took the 300 mile overnite train ride from Hanoi up into the northwest mountains to Sapa near the Chinese border.

Sapa is a small town at about 5,000 feet of altitude that is in sight of Fansipan which is the highest moiuntain in South Asia at about 10,300 feet. It is a market center for the local minority hilltribes and now serves as a tourist center for backpackers and trekking in the hills and mountains. It is rather primitive in that it has only one bank and NO ATMs! The temperatures are pleasant during the day and rather chilly at night.

We hired a 4-wheel drive Ford vehicle with leather seats and driver for our explorations into the nearby hills and overnited in a 4-star hotel------not much roughing it for me.

We visited the surrounding countryside which contains multiple villages of minority groups…..mostly Red Dzao and Black H’Mong. By the way, there are 54 minority groups in Vietnam as distinguished by language. The hilltribes have been traditionally difficult to control by the central government and have maintained much of their distinct culture. Their economy is primarily agriculture and selling cultural souvenirs to tourists. They have an astonishing command of English and are very friendly and charming. Their main profitable agricultural plant used to be opium, but since that was outlawed by the government rice is the main crop along with some corn.

On Wednesday afternoon we went to 2 villages named Lao Chai and Ta Van which are situated in a beautiful valley filled with terraced rice fields. The day started foggy when arrived off the train at 630am but was sunny but hazy by the time the afternoon rolled around. We walked down into the valley then along the valley floor for an hour and a half where our driver picked us up. We passed numerous animals such as water buffalo, pigs, & dogs; as well as numerous people from the tribes many of which were dressed in their daily colorful dress.

Some villagers wandering down the trail into the valley:

Water buffalo in the rice terraces:

Me and a new friend:

A young man playing with his knife in the valley:

On Thursday we went to the village called Ta Phin in another valley. We were met by a group of 6 women and their 3 children who walked with us for the next hour politely asking us to buy some souvenirs and joking and questioning us. Their english and understanding the subtleties of teasing and joking was quite amazing and entertaining.

The group of women who followed us from our car invited us into their house:

A couple of photos of some parents with their kids:

Halong Bay

120 miles east of Hanoi is bizarre, beautiful Halong Bay. It has over 3,000 limestone pinnacles protruding from the waters of the Tonkin Gulf. These pinnacles are dotted with beaches and caves.
We boarded our small cruise boat at noon Sunday with about 15-20 other people and after spending overnite aboard we debarked the next day at noon. We ate fresh seafood- prawns, crabs, fish for our meals and sat on deck as we floated thru the islands. We stopped at one island to explore a huge cave and at another where some kayaked and others bought fresh seafood for the boat crew to prepare. The weather was very pleasant and the sky was relatively clear.
The Bay was declared a UN World Heritage Area in 1994 in hope to save it from massive tourism and pollution for the future.


A few photos of the Bay:



This a a docking area near a pinnacle with an extensive cave that we, and lots of others, explored:
Remember you can click to enlarge these photos



As the sun set, the beauty of the seascape was even more beautiful:

As is so common in these developing countries in Asia, the influx of tourists causes poor locals to try to sell trinkets, snacks and soft drinks. On Halong Bay thy swarm in small row boats usually accompanied by their children. It is extremely hard to resist these cuties:

Hoa Lu andTam Coc near Ninh Binh in North Central Vietnam

Saturday we went about 75 miles south east of Hanoi into the countryside to visit one historical site and one site of natural beauty.
The traffic and driving was again one of the main entertainments of the day with the dance of the autos, trucks and motobikes reaching far out into the countryside.

Hoa Lu was the capital of Vietnam during the 10th and 11th centuries, chosen for the natural protection of the rivers and bizarre landscape. There are 2 restored temples from the kings of the 11th century.
A lily pond outside one of the temple complexes:


One of the temples:

This my guide at our lunch for two. Terrific variety!


After lunch we went to nearby Tam Coc. This is an area with distinct limestone mountains with a small river running thru it. The river actually forms a cave or grotto as it runs thru or under 3 of the mountains. Tourists can ride in rowboats along the river. The rowboats are powered by men or women who often row with their feet.



Often one of the tourist passengers participates in the heavy work:

A woman rowing with her feet:
Paddling thru the grotto. Our rowers consisted of a mother and her son:


A quiet location along the river:
Tomorrow we will go Halong Bay, a UN World Heritage site, and stay overnite on the Bay.

Ho Chi Minh's Place

Yesterday we visited the place where Ho Chi Minh (HCM to those familiar with him) is memorialized. It is a trafficless park area which houses the HCM Mausoleum, HCM's stilthouse, the HCM Museum, and another house and his garage with his cars.


This Mausoleum was built by help from Russian architects as one can tell by the solid, uninspired block-like design. His body is in there but has to go to Russia once a year to maintain the preservation of the body. We couldn't go inside because it was closed for maintenance.

One of the long list of regulations for entering the buildings contained the following rule (click to enlarge):


The stilthouse is interesting as it is quite simple and serene located on a lake and lovely garden area near the opulent French Govenor's Palace from colonial days.


This is a view from the veranda that surrounds the second floor:
After spending an hour at the Museum that tells his life story as well as the nationalist struggle for independence from the French and the re-unification struggle with the Americans. It is very interesting to get this point of view.

Then we visited the Ethnolgraphic Museum that has materials from the 54 distinct ethnic groups that live in Vietnam. More about that later as we will be visiting some minority hill-tribe groups in the northwest mountauns near the Chinese border.

Late in the afternoon we visited the site of the first university that was founded in 1072. And then visited the Tran Quoc Pagoda on the shore of the large West Lake:

Hanoi, Viet Nam

I arrived in Hanoi on time after 28 hours from the time I left my home in Del Mar.....with my luggage! I was met by my smiling tour guide Tran Van Bay who got me to my hotel safely.
I rested, we went for a walk, a snack, back to the hotel fo another rest and then dinner.

Hanoi is a busy city of 4 million friendly people with chaotic, noisy traffic mixing mostly motobikes with bicycles and motor cars. It never stops even for the few traffic lights that seem to exist here. Horns are constantly beeping as lane stripes are always ignored. Outrageous maneuvers are accomplished without any sign of road rage. Traffic is extremely entertaining to observe.



We took a walk around Hoan Kiem Lake which is near the colorful Old Quarter. It is quite picturesque in the eerie late afternoon sunlight that is filtered by a mildly polluted haze as is the case in most Asian cities.



This one of several art students we saw on the shoreline attempting to capture the feeling.

We will be here for 3 days experiencing the sites and museums. What is particularly interesting is to get a fresh viewpoint on the "American War" which we will get visiting some museums tomorrow.

Leaving for Vietnam & Thailand

I'm leaving this afternoon on a trip of one month duration to South East Asia.
I'm taking the commuter plane to LAX and catching the 18 hour long nonstop Thai Air flight form LAX to Bangkok and then catching a 1 1/2 hour flight to Hanoi Vietnam. My first time in Viet Nam. I'll spend almost 2 weeks in northern and central Viet Nam. Then will go for a little over 2 weeks to Thailand in Bangkok and a couple of beach areas called Phuket and Pattaya.
That is pronounced "Poo-ket" not "Fuh-ket".

Stay tuned.