The North of Vietnam

From Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi it is roughly 1000 miles as the crow flies and riding buses a good part of the way makes the journey even longer ~ but the journey,  as they say, is what it is all about!
We did shorten it a little however with a 1 hour flight from Hue to Hanoi (instead of a 12 hour bus ride) and then jumped a bus to Ninh Binh.  If you are not familiar with this area of Vietnam -  then I say to you - don't miss it when you come this way.  Along with some truly beautiful scenery we had one of our most cultural experiences while staying in Vietnam.
   You may or may not be aware that "Tet" or the Lunar New Year is in full swing in Vietnam and culminates (this year) on February 19th.  I have to say this more than rivals our holiday season in western culture and 100% of the population has been preparing for it for weeks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%E1%BA%BFt

We had the good fortune of staying at the Hoa Lu 2, a hotel where the staff were exceedingly helpful and hospitable and Jackie and his staff invited us to their Tet celebration which included the office staff from his wife's work ~ the Ninh Binh Office of Tourism.   WOW~  Normally Carol and I do a pretty good job of maintaining - but when the homemade fruit-rice vodka got flowing and each person went from table to table to toast us and others - down the hatch was mandatory.   Along with great conversation and food provided by the hotel & the tourism office it was an amazing affair.  But wait -  it didn't end there - just as we were preparing to hit the elevator button to our room -  we were informed that the party was moving to a nearby karaoke bar to continue the festivities! (a first for us).
So lots of passionate singing of Vietnamese classics with our contribution being 2 renditions of the only English song that came up ~ the  Eagles "Hotel California"   whooooooohoooooo!
The only thing that brought us down was the next morning's neighborhood pig slaughter of 2 pigs below our hotel window.

 

Tet Party at Hoa Lu Hotel

                                                Chuc Mung Nam Moi ! Happy New Year

 Jackie and Friend at Party

 

Karaoke!!!

 

                                                       Friends from the Tet Party

 

Getting Ready for the Holiday

 





In any case -   The Scenery!  The area around Ninh Binh is known as the Halong Bay of the Land and when you see pics from both areas in this blog - you will know why!
The 3 areas we visited by bike (a 30 km loop) were ~ Tam Coc,  Hang Mua, and Trang An.
Hang Mua is a mountain temple that is at the top of a flight of 500 steps (many more than 16" high and none the same height). The view from the top is stunning and overlooks Tam Coc ~ which is a beautiful area of Karst rocks and Canals where you hire a female boats-woman to row you (with here feet mind you) through the canals and a series of caves.

Water Buffalo and Karst Mountains

 

Tam Coc:

 Boats for Hire

 who needs hands?

 

On our way to the caves

 

 

Karst Mountains and Rice Paddies

 

Karst Mountains

The Bike Ride

 500 Steps to the top of Hang Mua

overlooking Tam Coc

 

 

Moving on from Ninh Binh we are back in Hanoi ~ but after our first night we embarked early the next morning for a real highlight.......to Halong Bay.  As I said before ~ the Ninh Binh area is called the Halong Bay  of Land ~  but now we were off to Halong Bay itself ~ one of Vietnam's World Heritage Sights.      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%E1%BA%A1_Long_Bay

Am overnight cruise on a beautiful boat with Syrena Cruise ~ 17 cabins with a group of Costa Ricans, an Aussie couple, a Japanese couple, a couple from Alberta, 4 young women from Seattle, and 2 Korean women ~ not to mention a wonderful crew with a chef and team of cooks & wait staff, deck hands, & our guide Dat!

 

 

 Our Aussie Friends Jason & Kara

 

 

As if the view wasn't good enough ~ the 4 gals from Seattle

 

 

floating supermarket comes to the ship

 

 

After Halong Bay it was back to Hanoi and experiencing the highlight of the Tet holiday.

The Lunar New Year was at its apex and Hanoi was a throng of activity  as Everyone was out shopping for food, presents, orange trees, flowers, cards, clothes and everything under the sun (or the moon?)  Hanoi like Ho Chi Minh city is an unbelievable throng of humanity ~ pedestrians, cars, motos, carts, etc.  The Old Quarter where we stayed is an incredible maze of streets and alleys, and no matter how small the street, the motos are coming at you or right behind you ~ threading their way through the mobs of people and small stalls and venders crowding the streets.  Where there are sidewalks - forget about it because they are reserved for motorcycle parking and pedestrians therefore clog the  streets along with anything moving.  It is a combination that is both exhilarating and frustrating at the same time.

It is something to be experienced. 

The downside of Tet for us was that most things were closed the days before the eve of the lunar new year and between that and inclement weather we missed some of the high lights.

We had some good food as every street and corner has street food as well as an abundance of restaurants.   I will give you a taste of Hanoi with the pics that follow!

 

St. Joseph's Cathedral

 

Street Scenes ~

Hanoi's 4 Km long mosaic mural wall that commorates 1000 years of its history!

 

 

 

Well I thank you for hanging in there and going the distance -  More to come ...........

Don and Carol