April 1,2,3, 2015, Viet Nam

April Fools Day was a sea day taken up with bridge lessons, news of other Oceania cruises coming up, the Captain talking about pirating and his experience with a pirate attack in 2008, and bridge game and trivia.  We had our first meal at the Toscana specialty restaurant.  We just about filled up on the delicious bread served with a selection of olive oils and balsamic vinegars.

arriving in Ha Long Bay, from our lanai

April 2, Thursday, we arrived in Ha Long Bay Viet Nam at 1:00pm and departed by tender on our overnight junk cruise and tour of Hanoi.

We took a tender to the dock.  Then another small tender from the junk to the 15 cabin junk boat.  We sailed through these beautiful small isles to one that houses a huge cave.  There are over 200 steps up to the entrance.  After 25,000,000 years it had a nice paved walkway (man made) and was air conditioned (naturally).  We had three opportunities to buy souvenirs. 

 We were not the only ones viewing this cave.

Our "junk"

Back on board we relaxed while sailing through more beautiful isles and then had a cooking demonstration of spring rolls made from rice paper.  We got to roll them ourselves.  We anchored in a calm bay with maybe 25 more junk cruise boats like ours for the night.  We had fermented coconut juice with a Viet Namese toast, and then dinner.

David and I tried fishing for squid off the back of the boat but had no luck.  I think you had to just snag one.  They swam all around the lure.  They showed the movie Indochine which was in French, with Catherine Deneuve, English subtitles.  Our guide said it was one hour long.  After 45 mins the plot was a long way of ending and we had a 5:30am wake up call so I went to bed.  Russ and Denise and David watched the whole thing which eventually featured Ha Long Bay as a hiding place used in the war.  I'll have to rent the movie another time.

April 3, Friday

We got to the dock and our bus on time at 7:00am for the three hour drive to Hanoi.  

woman making rice paper

We stopped for happy time at a huge gift shop where we bought rice paper for making spring rolls like the demonstration last night, and "weazel" coffee.  I imagine this is the civit coffee we have heard of where the civit eats the beans and they harvest the poo and have special coffee.  We'll see, but not until we get home in July.

We crossed over the Red River next to the bridge built by the French in 1889.  Our guide gave us some info re Viet Nam.  90 million people, 60% Buddhist.  His Grandfather spoke French.  His Father spoke Russian and worked in Russia  for many years.  He had an uncle's family who tried to escape by boat and didn't make it. His family did not try.  Up to 1990 most rode bicycles.  Now motorbikes, but cars are becoming more plentiful in spite of a 200% tax to buy one.  He said Communism in general was accepted by the people because they are now at peace.  No more war. Coming into Hanoi we passed a huge new town houseing development, street after street, three story townhomes, but it looked empty.  Ming said it was built by the Chinese to give work to them.  They would cost a million US dollars.(?)

We first came to the Ho Chi Minh masoleum and home complex.  It is Friday and the masoleum is not open, but we can see the palace, his home from about 1954 to 1958, 

and then his house on stilts that he moved to which is more reminiscent of the ethnic people in the hills.  These are very simple rooms with basic furniture.  Meeting room below, bedroom and office upstairs.  

Next we went to the Confuscius temple.  Students who did well in school in the small towns were brought to this Temple of Literature  to study.  The best students here were made Mandarin and allowed to marry a princess.  There were stella under roofs erected on top of turtle sculptures.  They had inscribed the names of the best pupils from 1500's to 1770's.  

 Leaving, we saw the one pillar pagoda.  This was erected to honor a god who granted a royal couple  their wish to have a boy.  You can come here and pray for a boy. 

 In fact, you can just use this photo if you want of the one pillar pagoda

Inside the Confuscious temple

Students in traditional dress who just visited the Confuscious temple to wish for good grades  on their final exams.

Next we went to the Hanoi Hilton prison.  Recently they built a couple modern buildings on the site and just kept about a third of the prison as a museum.  The French built it to imprison the Viet Nam political prisoners. 

They were kept in large rooms on wooden platforms maybe 20 to a room, one leg shackled except to use the bathroom.  Somehow over 100 prisoners used a sewer line to excape once.  And then when they put bars in it, others spent months wearing away the iron and also escaped.  The women were kept in a smaller area.

?

There was a couple rooms displaying photos of how the American pilot prisoners were held and John McCain's pilot uniform.  They showed the Americans with games, parties, sports, and no shackles.

After a delicious lunch we went to the old Hanoi market area.  We saw the tangled electric lines everywhere like India and Cambodia.  

Shopkeepers live above the shops.  When their family gets bigger they have to divide the shops into smaller pieces, sometimes a couple meters wide.  

Want some pidgeon?

The French was is to build these tall, thin homes which remind me of England where David's cousin Austin lived.  His house was on 5 floors.  This is because land is very expensive.  Here in Hanoi, each house is totally different next to each other.  Sometimes there is a big gap between houses.  Sometimes the houses are very narrow.  Most have a balcony on the top floor.

Mlng listened to us try to pronounce Pho, the Vietnamese soup.  We saw signs for this all along the way.  He said it is pronounce like "fuh".  If we say "foe", it sounds like the word for street.

Our 3 hour drive home again went by rice paddies and farm lands, but on route 18, it reminds me of LA because the next town is very close to the last and it is traffic basically the whole 100 km.