The whole Vietnam part 2

  Hanoi, Vietnam
Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Another sleeping bus, 14 hours and I am in Hanoi  for a couple of hours before I make my way to the beautiful and well known Halong bay. This bay comprises over 3,000 islands in the gulf of Tonkin and has innumerable grottoes and caves carved by wind and waves. Ha long means "where the dragons descends into the sea" following the legend that states that Halong bay's islands were created by a dragon that lived in the mountains, this legend has not been proven wrong yet. as you can see I was carefully listening to the guide all along.

Halong bay 2

We spent one night on a junk boat and one night on Cat Ba island which was declared National park in 1986. The whole trip was simply awesome, relaxing, refreshing, interesting.

The same day we came back from Halong bay, I took the night train to Sapa. Booked through Sinh cafe once again, the sleeping berth was really nice, 1st class. a change from all my other trips so far. There were 4 beds in the cabin and I found myself with a Vietnamese family who speaks perfect french because they live in Morez and work for a glasses manufacture. Hum ! how interesting to talk about glasses made in Jura while I am thousands miles away from home and from work ! 

 The train actually stops at Lao Cai, the border with China and you have to take a minibus to get to Sapa, an hour and half from Lao Cai. The bus ride was absolutely stunning. The region of Sapa is in the mountains where you can find the Fansipan, highest peak in Vietnam that culminates at 3143m.

Sapa's agriculture

It is home to a horde of tribes and minority people that are really proud of their roots and their culture. In order to differentiate themselves from other minorities, they are all wearing the outfit of their ancestors. They all have their own dialect and do not even speak vietnamese.

Sapa's minority

I went onto 3 treks while out there. The first one was a simple 3 km walk to the minority village of Cat Cat with a guide. The next one was a bit of an adventure as I went on my own to the village of Ta Phin, 13 km from Sapa. The views were amazing, the location completely isolated in the middle of the mountains and the way there was a real trek. Asking my way from time to time and being escorted here and there by local people. I had the chance to meet a fantastic woman who spoke quite good english as she simply learnt from tourists. She showed me around her village, her house, her family and it made me feel very welcome. The next day, I went to 3 other tribe villages with a guide as we had to go through mud, paddy fields, rivers, a real 6 hours trek in the mountains.

Views of Sapa

In the evening, I was back on the night train to Hanoi. For some reason, I was no longer in 1st class, but in 3rd class. Big change, but good to mingle with locals and too tired to even care.

The train arrived at 5 am in Hanoi. What do you do on on your own in Hanoi when everything is closed and you have a big packpack to carry. Well I do not know because big surprise, the guide that we had in Halong bay was here, at the train station waiting for me ! I have to say that was pretty cool cause I did not have to worry about anything. He took me on his motorbike to a good and cheap hotel in order to drop off my bag and then we drove all around Hanoi, the flower market, the early morning tai chi exercises in the park, the "uncle Ho" mausoleum complex, the water puppets, the old french quarter, the temple of literature

Literature temple

 and my favorite, the ethnography museum. If I had not been to Sapa before, I would not have believed the fact that the museum is actually talking about the present, I would have thought it shows the way of life of minorities 50 years ago.

One of the highlight of Hanoi seems to be the riverside cafe and I tell you why. When I arrived in Hanoi the first time, before I made my way to Halong bay, I walked all around town with my friends, well I followed them cause it felt good not to have to check the map nor think about where to go and what to see, so they were in charge of that. To have a good view of the city and the lake, the lonely planet recommends that you have a drink at the riverside cafe, which is what we did. Once there, my friend read us the legend of this lake that states that "in the mid 15th century, heaven gave Emperor Ly Thai To (Le Loi) a magical sword that he used to drive the Chinese out of Vietnam. One day after the war, while out boating, he came upon a giant golden tortoise swimming on the surface of the water, the creature grabbed the sword and disappeared into the depths of the lake, Since that time, the lake has been known as Ho Hoan Kiem ( Lake of the restored sword) because the tortoise returned the sword to its divine owners." Pretty cool story.

View from the riverside cafe, Hanoi

Well, when the tour guide from Halong bay showed me around Hanoi, he took me to the riverside cafe and told me all about the legend of the lake. He was so proud that I did not have the heart to tell him that I had been here already. All in all, I had an awesome day anyway. In the evening, I had dinner with some vietnamese friends of friends (yes, once again). Funy enough, they speak fluent french because they used to live in my home town in France. After dinner, they wanted to take me to that special place and guess where I ended up ! Yes, at the riverside cafe and I even had the chance to hear about that legend all over again in a french version this time. I am sure the waiters at this place must think I have a lot of friends !

My last day in Hanoi was pretty cool as well as my friend, the tour guide had to work and go on a day trip to the perfume pagoda. He offered me to come along, so I did. The perfume pagoda is actually a complex of pagodas and shrines built into the limestone cliffs of Huang Tieh Mountain. The most amazing one is the shrine within that high up hidden cave. To get there, you have to take a scenic river trip on a tiny boat rowed by a woman covered from top to bottom in order to stay away from the sun. There was no shade on that burning metallic barge and no wind to cool us down. Luckily, I was on that special boat with the guides, the drivers and the organizers. They all had umbrellas and it made the hour and a half trip much more pleasant. Even for lunch, I had the privilege to be with the guides and eat much better than the tourists that had actually booked and paid for the tour. I even had this special seat in the front of the minibus...Great day !