Hanoi

Last night was spent at a farewell dinner.  The Vietnamese cuisine continues to be delightful.  "Knock on wood," two weeks and no GI problems or allergic reactions for Julie.  Walking around Hanoi was a blast.  While we expected a more conservative city than Saigon, the streets and nightlife were amazing.

The streets of Hanoi at 11 pm

No Trump Hotel here, but we did find this place

Gradually over the past day, we have said our goodbye's and wished our fellow travelers a bon voyage as they return to their various corners of the world.  We have had a wonderful travel experience and think a great deal of all of them.  We hope that we have represented our country well.  Please excuse is if when we get home we fine things "lovely" or "brilliant" and when we go swimming we will wear "swimming costumes," but some sayings are catchy.  Our new friends fear that they will be using the word "awesome" far more than is appropriate for their societies after being with us for two weeks.

Since we were on our own today, we opted for an unusual  experience.  We waited in line for 2 hours with 20,000 of our new Vietnamese friends to see the body of Ho Chi Minh (know affectionately as Uncle Ho).  Contrary to what you would think, it was a blast.  There were few other non Vietnamese people in the line and we were a novelty.  We had people taking pictures with us, feeling our white skin and of course the young children (of which there were many, many school groups) practicing their english with us.  Seeing Uncle Ho seems to be a right of passage for 10 year old children.

We would start by saying "hello" then move on to "how are you".... to which they would respond in unison "I am fine, thank you."  On occasion we progressed to sharing names.... It was funny to hear 10 kids saying "Julie."  It made the time go very fast.

Here is the route of the  line which too
 2 hours and was nearly a mile long

We eventually had to surrender our bag and camera, but here is the line early
in our journey

Picture of the Mausoleum (no pictures of Uncle Ho possible)

Odd as it may seem, it was a delightful interaction with the people of Vietnam that we will treasure in our minds.  Uncle Ho did not look so bad considering he has been dead for nearly 50 years.

After that. we wandered back to the hotel doing a little last minute souvenir shopping on the way.  We got a marvelous Bahn Mi sandwich on the way back to the hotel (baguette, bacon and pate with cucumbers and shredded carrots).   We probably will pick up another Vietnamese coffee this afternoon (strong cold coffee with sweetened condensed milk on the bottom)..... absolutely awesome!

We don't have much left except for dinner tonight, perhaps with some friends from Canada and then the flight home tomorrow at noon.  We return nearly the same way as we arrived, fly to Taiwan for a connection and then on to Chicago.  Hopefully home by midnight so Julie can work at 7:30 am.

I hope you have enjoyed my commentary of our journey.  We have had a lot of fun and learned a great deal.  This is truly a wonderful place to visit.  The country is filled with beautiful sites, amazing history and a culture and people that are easy to smile and laugh with a generous and welcoming nature.  Both Julie and I hope to return here some day.

Ha Long Bay and Hanoi

I am sure you will be happy to know we survived our overnight train trip.  We spent much of the night drinking passion fruit mojitos, gin and tonics and dancing in the halls of the train (okay, Julie was dancing). 

We had a quick breakfast and changed and went on a 4 hour  bus ride to Ha Long Bay.   This was our third UNESCO world heritage site in three days.  I have a bunch of pictures of the bay.  It is a fabulous bay,  filled with 2000 limestone mountains jutting dramatically out of the bay.  I have read and believe that the bay was the inspiration for the floating islands on the movie Avatar.

We spent the night on the boat singing karaoke  (okay, Julie and all the other extroverts sang).  She did a great job singing "Do the Locomotion."

Our cruising boat and hotel for the night.  One of 500 on the bay

A couple of the 2000 islands on the bay

Several more of the islands

What a place to have morning coffee

After returning from the cruise and riding the bus back to Hanoi, next on the agenda was the Hanoi Hilton.   For those of you over 50 or history buffs, you will recognize this as the prison where American POW's, including John McCain,  were tortured and imprisoned during the Vietnam.

Artifacts from some of the 700 US POW's at the prison

Hue

Quick day and a quick post.  Today we spent the day walking around the imperial palace in Hue, saw a beautiful pagoda and took a dragon boat ride back to the hotel.  Very shortly we head to the train station for the overnight train to Hanoi.  The temperature is pretty brutal, 107 degree heat index and our energy levels and those of the rest of the group were pretty low.  Hard to believe the folks that rode 60 miles a day or so ago had to take numerous rest breaks just walking around.  We miss our bikes.

Hue was the home of the last emperors of Vietnam, the Nguyễn (pronounced Win).  The monarchy ended in 1945.  If you remember the name, Hue (pronounced Way), it may be because of the terrible 25 day battle fought here during the Tet offensive in 1968.

The palace was over 1000 acres and beautiful.  It is a UNESCO world heritage site.  One story we kept coming back too was that one of the emperors had over 500 concubines.  Very hard to imagine.

Well, we are off to the train station.  Have a wonderful Wednesday.

First of three layers of gates at the Imperial palace.  This has the
Vietnamese flag flying (which you see everywhere).

The coronation palace

The emperors library

Dragon boat with pagoda in the background.  The river is the
Perfume River

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Over the hill and through the Cemetery

Last day on the bikes today,  but what a day.  We rode the bus for about an hour to north of DaNang.   If that sounds familiar to you, it may be because there was a major airbase their during the war.  Also, it was the setting for the show China Beach.  It is no longer an airbase and the Vietnamese reject the name of China Beach.   The beach was beautiful. It is being developed as a world class resort.

Next was a 1500' climb up Hy Van Pass.   It was a 5 to 10% grade for 6 miles.  The road was good, traffic light and scenery  (ocean view the whole way) was spectacular.   Despite a short conditioning  season and our flatlander legs, we both made it to the summit.

  

After a seafood lunch,  we drove an hour and cycled through an area near the imperial city of Hue.  The area that we cycled was the site of tombs of the royal and wealthy from the area.

Now we have completed the cycling portion of our adventure.   My blogs might be a little spotty for the next few days.   Tomorrow we tour Hue by foot and catch a night train to Hanoi.  After arriving at 5 am, we head by bus 4 hours to Ha Long Bay for an overnight boat tour.

Up the peak

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1682078699?share_unique_id=16

Through the cemetery 

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1684169593?share_unique_id=18

Da Nang Beach - Soon to be like Waikiki

Julie getting to the summit of Hy Van pass

Happy couple (being done with the climb) overlooking an area we would
soon cycle

Bay known for muscle farming - which is what we had for lunch

Tombs near Hue.  There were 2 miles of similar graves in the cemetery.
This one is 40' tall

Multi Sport Day - Cycling, Kayaking and Shopping

Today we had a semi-rest day.  We woke up in a beautiful hotel in the quaint city of Hoi An.  Last night we went out for one of many Vietnamese dinners.  I had eel and Julie had goat.  Our guide bought and at an "embryo egg."  It is a duck egg that is fertilized and you eat the growing duckling before it is hatched.  Besides that and a few other things they eat (and they do eat everything) the food here is fantastic.  The availability of fresh vegetables and seafood is impressive.  Right from the farm to your table.  The fruit is varied and always perfectly ripe.

After breakfast, we rode about 5 miles to the kayak outfitter.  We headed out across the river in kayaks to a mangrove forest.  Along the way we saw fisherman getting the fish out of their nets, women harvesting coco palm fronds and an unexploded bomb from the war.  We have spent a lot of time watching people here work with food (farming, fishing, processing, cooking).  I guess it shows the importance of agriculture in the lives of the local people.

After the kayak ride, we had a lunch of the famous Banh mi,  which is a bagette with pate, pork and greens.  We rode back to the hotel and have the afternoon off.

Kayaking
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1681843882

Cycling back to hotel
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1682078699


As of this moment, Julie is out shopping and I am enjoying the air conditioned hotel room and waiting for happy hour.  I maxed out of shopping in the hot sun after and hour.

While I have the time, I do want to share a few funny things about our trip.  First of all, the name of our guide is Long.  On the first day, he said that we could call him LD, short for Long Dong.  Long for his first name and Dong because he loves money.  I am not kidding.

The second funny observation deals with going to the bathroom on the road while cycling.  LD looks for restrooms, that he calls "happy rooms."  However, in the often remote places we cycle, there are not any happy rooms, so he looks for a place in the bush that he calls..... wait for it..... a  "happy bush."

Finally, what do embryo eggs, booze with a dead snake in the bottom of the bottle, fried insects all have in common?  Well according to LD, they are good for the libido.  After telling us about what are invariably disgusting sounding foods (at least to me), he will end by saying "it is good for libido."

He does speak english very well and had a wonderful sense of humor.

Well, it is almost happy hour and Julie should be done with shopping soon.   It was a great Monday here, I hope yours will be too wherever you are.

The view from our hotel.  There is a rooster somewhere out there that
all of us would like to see on a dinner plate before he wakes us up
at 4:30 am again tomorrow

Julie out kayaking

Unexploded bomb.... yes, this was a telephoto shot

Fishermen getting their catch out of the nets.

Our happy group of kayakers. 

Julie and I under one of the unused fishing nets

I finally found some water buffalo on the way back to the hotel

Julie shopping.  Notice no bags so this was obviously near the start

Easter in Vietnam

  We started Easter Sunday with a 6 am brunch at our hotel followed by a 5 hour bus ride.  It was pretty interesting driving north along highway 1.  Despite being a day of rest, the rice fields were filled with people harvesting.  In the small towns, we passed many wedding celebrations.  All were brightly colored and had guest lists in the hundreds.  Apparently, an average Vietnamese wedding is 500 guests.

After lunch, we spent a tropical Easter Sunday afternoon cycling along the coast of Vietnam.  Again, it was small fishing villages and people relaxing and spending family town.  It would not have been complete without the children waving hello and many high fives.

A more somber time of the day was when on the bus we passed near Mi Lai, the site of the massacre in 1968.  It was hard to hear the story again.  The sadness was repeated later in the afternoon when we visited a Vietcong Cemetery, built after the war.  Our guide read the tombstones of one of the soldiers.... the person was 20 when he died and his rank was listed as "guerilla fighter."

We ended the 34 mile day in the city of Hoi An.  It appears to be influenced by the colonial french and seems to have many more tourists and signs in english than anywhere we have visited.  We are here for two nights, so I will hope to get some good pictures.

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1680480766

Meanwhile, we hope you all have a Happy Easter.

Seperating the rice from the stalk

One of the many beautiful and empty beaches that we cycled by today

Vietcong war cemetary along our route

Fishing boats we saw along our route

Riding the countryside on a Saturday

We had another fun day cycling in Vietnam.  The day started in our remote island paradise. Yesterday was spent snorkeling and just relaxing.  Being off the bicycles for a day was a welcome relief.  The resort we stayed at was rustic, but very nice.  It was a quick 15 minute boat ride to where we started our ride.

Our cycling today was 57 miles.  It was through the countryside and full of sites we had never seen before.  We rice drying on the roads (yes, right on the road),  shrimp being dried on the road, shrimp farms, lobster farms and rice paddies.  The site and smells were new and wonderful.  We rode by many fishing villages, bay's filled with fishing boats, farming villages and some of the most beautiful beaches in the world.

A fun and interesting aspect of the day was that in many villages and homes,  the young children were standing on the side of the road yelling "hello" and waving.  The site of seeing 18 white skinned folks riding bikes through their town is obviously a novelty.  Our guide advised us that if we stop, they may want to come up to us and try to touch our white skin.  If someone is light skinned, it means that they do not have to work in the fields.  That makes white skin a sign of wealth.

Here are the routes we cycled, we had a bus ride in between to bypass a busy section ofroad, so there are two:

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1678377471#.WPIS3_GtQiI.email

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1678379121#.WPISq_B03Ds.email

We continue to mix with the rest of the group and find all the people extremely kind and wonderful to talk with.  They are very game to try anything, have very interesting stories, especially about travel.  Very important in group travel is the fact that they are prompt and don't ask silly questions at our daily briefings.

Right now we are at a wonderful seaside motel, sitting around in hotel bathrobes and listening to some kind of Vietnamese Variety show in the courtyard below.  We are waiting for room service which will cost a whole $20.  The only bad thing is that we don't know how long the show will last and they are blowing some kind of horns like the South African Vuvuzela's.  I sure hope it does not last long.  If it does, we have ear plugs and a 5 hour bus ride north before we cycle tomorrow, so we will survive.

The person was squid fishing

Either a shrimp or lobster farm.  There were hundreds of these ponds

Fishing boats in the bay

Rice being dried on the road.  The road was open.  You
just had to hope no one else was coming the other way

Rice paddy

Our group photo

Bike, bus, bike, bus and boat

Today is a multi mode of transportation day.  We woke up to a wonderful 55 degrees in beautiful Dalat.  We cycled from the hotel around the lake and up into the hills.  There were pine trees and acres of greenhouses growing strawberries,  flowers and all kinds of vegetables.

After 8 miles, we stopped at a pagoda.  The pagoda was beautiful.   What we have learned about this religion practiced by 20% of the people is fascinating.

After the pagoda visit, we cycled another 20 miles through the shade covered undulating  terrain.   The traffic was light and it was a treat.   The first ride of the day ended at 27 miles and nearly 2000' of ascent (and about the same amount of decent).

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1674009764?share_unique_id=12

After an hour bus ride, we got on the bikes again for a 20 mile, 3000' decent through a national park.  Julie described it as perhaps her best ride ever.  You hardly had to pedal at all

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https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1674383109?share_unique_id=14

After a nice lunch, we rode on the bus for 2 1/2 Hours to the sea and caught a 15 minute boat ride to an ocean resort.   It is very remote.  We are here for 2 nights and have a day off cycling tomorrow.   We ended up in a very remote island resort that reminds me of Gilligan's Island.

Da Lat from across the lake

Greenhouses near Da Lat

Buddhist Pagoda

More Pagoda Pictures

A couple of godesses at the Pagoda

We rode our bike down this valley

Julie speeding down the mountain

Our lodging for the next two nights, there are bungalows
in the bush

                                     

From Sea to Summit

Another excellent day of cycling in Vietnam.   We left the luxury of our resort at 7 am.  Third day in a row of early starts.  As you can imagine,  the goal is to get an early start to beat the heat.

Today we got to take a dip in the Vietnamese sea at our second break for the day.  I needed some refreshment badly because I had a flat and after repairing the tire the young mechanic insisted on letting me draft him to catch the rest of group.  He had me going 22 mph on a mountain bike, which is pretty quick.

Today was 35 miles and over 2000 feet of climbing.   Not insignificant in a 106 degree heat index.

Here is the route and statistics:

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1672321206?share_unique_id=10

Julie did not cause any international incidents on the road today.   The rest of the story yesterday was that the gentleman emerged from the shop where  he crashed smiling and waving.   No one knows what he was carrying on his motor bike, but it was described as sounding like pots and pans falling.

After cycling and a nice lunch, we are currently on the bus to Dalat.   It is  3 hour journey and is known as a mountain area where the French colonials escaped to during the summer before their defeat in 1954.  The altitude is 5000' and much cooler than sea level.  We are expecting to wake up to temperatures less than 60 degrees.

We took the bus up the mountain.  Tomorrow we have a long ride down to sea level.

                 

How do you like that Lobster..... Fresh off the boat!

                                     

One Type of boat used by the boat people to leave the country
in late 1970's and 1980's.  Note the propeller.

                                     

Fishing boats in the bay

View from our hotel room tonight.  You can see the
french influence in the town including the eiffel tower.

Cycling the countryside

Today we cycled 36 miles in the countryside east of Saigon.    It probably sounds like a longer and harder day if I call it 57 kilometers or tell you that it was another day with a heat index of 110 degrees. 

Nevertheless,  it was a fabulous day.  We cycled through rubber tree farms, peppercorn orchards and coffee growing areas.  The towns were small,  people friendly, traffic light and roads pretty good.  All the local kids yell "hello" at us when we ride through towns.

We stopped for lunch at a local family home where they made us Vietnamese pancakes.  They were egg based, kind of a cross between egg fo yung and a crepe.   Dipped in a sweet sauce they were fantastic.

As I write this,  we are in a bus on a 3 hour trip to the coast.  Tonight we stay in the only 5 star resort of the trip.   I find it pretty easy to adapt to this type of touring over my usual style of camping and peanut butter sandwiches.

Julie scored the first flat of the trip 300 yards from the end point.  I did not see it myself, but I was told by a reliable source that Julie did drove a fully loaded scooter off the road and into a shop... really, I m not kidding.

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1670583503?share_unique_id=8

Peppercorns growing on a vine

Rubber Plantation

Our tour guide with Vietnamese pancakes

Harvesting rubber

Fishing boats near Mui Ni

From our Hotel Room Tonight

This is from our tour on Sunday.  I just got this from
the tour company and thought you would enjoy