As I previewed, we both slept exceptionally well in Ha
Long. I was up first – shocker! – and I
tiptoed to the curtain, hoping against hope that I’d be greeted by clear
skies. Alas, it was gray, just like the
day before. If there was any saving
grace it was that there was no rain; just the constant threat of it.
Breakfast was quite good, and it brings to mind that I think
I forgot to mention that the breakfast buffets at all of our hotels were incredibly
similar. They all had an omelet, egg,
and crepe station, along with traditional Western buffet items. Lots of French-looking (if not tasting) pastries,
along with large and elaborate stations for fresh fruit. Then there would be an Asian station, usually
where they would offer you fresh-made and customized Pho, the traditional
Vietnamese meal. There were also Asian
buffet items, usually noodle and rice dishes, along with dinner-like meat
dishes, sushi, and dumplings. It was
always a bit overwhelming. The Japanese
tour group was at breakfast the same time as us. At this hotel, the Asian food was on the far
other side of the restaurant, so we all ended up naturally segregated. It did show that there were clear preferences
as to what folks like in the morning. I have also failed to talk about Vietnamese coffee. I was shocked to learn that they are the number two grower of coffee in the world, behind Brazil. I don't think I'd even even heard of coffee from Vietnam. It is grown in the mountainous regions, which we did not see, and is known to be particularly bitter. In reading later, we import very little Vietnamese coffee into the United States on account of its bitter qualities. With this in mind, they have taken to serve "traditional Vietnamese coffee," which is about two third black coffee and one third condensed milk. That considerable amount of sweetness helps overwhelm the strong coffee. Each breakfast also had coffee stations, always including lots of condensed milk and sometimes pre-mixed iced coffee with the condensed milk already in there.
Most of our day would be taken up by a cruise through the
bay, which included an island stop and hike, following by lunch prepared and
served on the ship. The boat terminal
was fairly new and built on a promontory which was covered in very expensive
looking villas and mansions. Tony
explained that a wealthy Vietnamese man secured the contract for the island and
agreed to build the port, in exchange for control of all the land. He then built all of the villas, also in
hopes of attracting rich Asians, to include Australians. I wonder if Australians consider themselves
Asian? Probably not. I digress.
As in the city, though, all of the villas looked empty, though their elaborate
lawns and gardens were all kempt and tidy.
It almost felt like we were driving through a movie set, as there were
absolutely no people or cars. Right
before we reached the huge – an empty – pier parking lot, we passed a life-sized
King Kong. He looked over the road and
was part of something called “King Kong Park,” though what was actually in
the park, I cannot say. We learned that
the movie “Kong: Skull Island” was filmed here in 2017. To mark that, they built the amusement-like
park, hoping to cash in on legions of loyal fans. None of us, however, had ever heard of the
movie, and in researching, I see that it bombed at the box office. Oh well, more planning that failed.
Along the way I also noted a lot downed trees and vegetation,
and lots of buildings – particularly along the large pier – which were missing patches of roof coverings, and there were some boarded-up windows. That was all damage from a huge cyclone (Eastern
Hemisphere hurricane) that went through last fall. Tony said most of the damage had been
repaired, so given what I was seeing, it must have been much worse.
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| King Kong...yes, King Kong |
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| The Marina in Ha Long |
As in Cu Chi, Tony made sure we were the first arrivals of
the day, and our bus sat alone in the massive parking lot that could easily accommodate
a 100 or more buses. We walked through a
sparkling new terminal building, with lots of workers just sitting around for
want of work. Our two-level ship was
waiting for our group, and we were soon off.
It was cool, but not cold, and despite the gray, it was not raining or
even misting. The lower level was glass
enclosed, with large elegant tables for sitting (and this is where we ate lunch
later). The whole upper deck was for viewing,
and there were decks aft and ore on the lower level, too. As soon as we cleared the harbor, we started
coming up on the granite islands which dot the bay. There were lots of fishing boats, too, and we
eventually crossed a major shipping lane, with large container ships and a
steady stream of very elegant looking cruise vessels. The latter were overnight ships, which take
long groups out into the bay and folks stay and party on the boats
overnight. We were told this is
particularly popular for Chinese tourists.
The views were simply stunning, and unlike anywhere we’d
visited before. We saw lots of birds, to
include large numbers of eagles. The
water was clean and greenish. We cruised
among the islands for an hour or so, before we arrived at our first and only
stop. We were to be dropped on one side of an island (with people given the option to remain on board or disembark), and then walk
up about 150 stairs, at which point we entered a huge limestone cavern, which
essentially was the entire center of the small island. I was not sure what to expect, but whatever
my expectations, they were exceeded. The
caverns were massive, and as we walked down and up, from chamber to chamber,
each one seemed to have its one geology.
This was a really enjoyable hike, and a definite highlight of the trip
for me. We were sorry for the few folks
who remained behind, scared off by the stairs, which were in fact not arduous
at all. |
| Disembarking for Our Cavern Hike |
We emerged on another side of the island, and our boat had
sailed around to meet us. We could still
see the original landing area, and by now, a steady stream of boats were
arriving, depositing passengers, and then pulling back out to make room for the
next arrival. Whereas we had had the caverns
to ourselves, I imagined hoards of new arrivals and a certainly less majestic
visit for those poor folks. It appeared
that most of the other groups were large Chinese contingents. |
| Emerging Back Out from Caverns |
Back on board, we settled in, were offered drinks, and then
a multi-course lunch was served. I had
seen them preparing the food earlier, as we departing Ha Long. There had to have been at least 10 courses,
all served family style, and we left so much uneaten food; not for quality, but
for quantity. I felt bad, but I
certainly enjoyed the dishes, all of which were unique so far, and they relied
heavily on fish and shellfish from the bay.
We arrived back at the pier around 1:30 or so, and after
visits to the “happy room” we found our bus in the now nearly half full bus
parking lot. I am still not sure where
all of these other tourists had overnighted, as the city seemed so dead. My current working theory is that they came
on day trips from Hanoi.
Speaking of Hanoi, we were soon on the road and headed
there. Most of us were tired, and
certainly full, so we had quiet and sleep time until we made one more “happy
room” stop. Soon after leaving there, we
started to hit the suburbs of Hanoi. It
is the capital, and though a second city in terms of population, it still has
almost 9 million inhabitants. The blocks
and blocks a tall apartment complexes contrasted with HCMC, which while larger,
seemed to have fewer such large housing high-rise complexes. It was even grayer here, likely due to the temperature
inversion, which also traps smog. That,
combined with the still not working dehumidifier, meant that the scenes out the
window were quite dreary.
Traffic was just as intense as HCMC, as were the numbers of
scooters. It was raining now, but that
didn’t seem to deter any of the scooter traffic. Local are obviously used to it, as they were
all donned up in slickers and protective gear, though I’m sure they were still
getting soaked by all the road spray. We
exited the main road into town and drove down into the city proper, and here
the contrasts with HCMC were even more noticeable. The streets were markedly more narrow, and
the buildings more dense. I should have noted
earlier, too, that the VAST majority of buildings in Vietnam are very
narrow. This is an artifact of how
buildings used to be taxed, with the levy based on building width. As such,
everything was built very narrow to pay the least tax. Though we were told the laws have since changed,
the narrowness become cultural and even new buildings are still built very
narrow and very high. I personally didn’t
find it attractive, but no one asked me.
Our hotel was located in a nice neighborhood, but with the narrow
streets, it felt crammed into its location.
It, too, was narrow. The staff at
this hotel, however, was by far the most friendly and accommodating of any on
our trip; that’s saying a lot, as we’d had excellent service throughout. Our room was on the small side, but still
nice, and we were relieved to be far enough back to have zero street
noise.
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| Painting in Our Hanoi Hotel |
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| Yet Another Bathroom Window |
As I’ve written before, our trip included relatively few
sights related to the Vietnam War, and when it did, those visits were
optional. One tour not offered to us was
a visit to the infamous “Hanoi Hilton,” or Hao Lo Prison. Tony talked about this during our drive and
said that we were all free to visit on our own, but he cautioned us that the
exhibitions are “written from the point of view of patriotic Vietnamese.” K and I had already decided long before that
we wanted to visit, but they closed at 5:00pm.
This meant that we’d have to move quickly. Right after our bags were delivered to our
room, we went down and asked the hotel to arrange a taxi. They were great, and they worked out exactly
how much it would cost, etc. The cab was
there quickly and it took about 20 minutes to drive to the prison through very
heavy traffic. It cost all of $4, which
I doubt covered the cost of gas. The
prison was located adjacent to a very high hotel complex, and in an area of
town which still maintained several large and elegant buildings from the French
colonial period. I do not know if they
were original or if they were rebuilt after the war, given all the damage
inflicted on Hanoi by U.S. bombing.
We paid our admission and purchased two audio guides to use
while navigating the large complex. We
learned that what remains is only a small portion of the prison, the rest
having been demolished to make way for the massive skyscraper hotel next
door. The majority of the museum tells
the story of how the prison was built by the French during occupation and used
to detain and torture “Vietnamese freedom fighters.” The displays were incredibly graphic, to
include all kinds of torture devices, guillotines, and gut-wrenching pictures
of tortured, killed, and detained prisoners.
It was, also, quite busy, with lots of school groups. We finally had to skip ahead, as it was all
very depressing.
Next was what we wanted to see, which was the portion dedicated
to the prison’s use to detain U.S. prisoners of war, to include the late
Senator John McCain. There were about
five rooms dedicated to this era, and here the Vietnamese spin was both evident
and discouraging. There were lots of
pictures of smiling American prisoners, to include basketball games and art
classes. The audio guide told us of the
humane treatment and claimed that the moniker “Hanoi Hilton” was devised by the
POWs, given the level of relative luxury in which they were allegedly kept. It was, in fact, too much to take. I did, however, enjoy an exhibit about the eventual
reconciliation with Vietnam, to include a large display to John McCain’s
subsequent visits and his work to improve relations.
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| Entrance to Hao Lo (Hanoi Hilton) Prison Museum in Hanoi |
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| Most of the Original Prison Was Torn Down To Make Way for This Hotel |
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| One of the Rooms Dedicated to U.S. POW's |
We wrapped up right as the museum was closing. We were both glad to have seen it, but we
agreed that with the extreme slant in interpretation, many folks in our group
would have been beyond angry and disgusted.
It was now, however, that I used the Grab (Uber-like) app for the first
time. I had figured out that you could
order a proper car, rather than a scooter, and within five minutes a nice car
pulled up and drove us back to our hotel without issue.
It had been a long day, and we were on our own for
dinner. I had done some research for
restaurants near the hotel, and I cross-referenced that to a list Tony had
provided. We settled on one which appeared
very close by. I used Google Maps to
walk us there, and it was shown as being close and on the same street as our
hotel. We walked a ways down and all of
sudden it showed that we’d passed the place.
It kept jumping around, and I’m sure it was an artifact of the very narrow
streets and dense urban environment, which were messing with the GPS function. We had given up and were walking back to the
hotel, resigned to ask for directions. As we were directly across for our hotel
and about to cross the street, K looked over her shoulder, and the restaurant
we wanted was literally right behind us.
Sigh. We both felt a little
foolish. It was built in one of the very
narrow buildings, and we were quickly seated.
As soon as we’d ordered drinks, a small group of American tourists (about
10) arrived with their guide. They sat
across from us and we got to listen in on their chatter. It sounded like they were just beginning
their tour, and the guide was helping them with the food, etc. It was interesting to hear other people’s impressions.
The meal was quite good, and – yes – it was Vietnamese again. Still, we thoroughly enjoyed it. We were thankful, too, to only have to cross the
street to reach our hotel. While K turned
in, I went up and used the gym, which was quite nice, not to mention the fact
that I had it to myself. After such a
long day, and the workout, I was more than ready for bed when I made it back
down.
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| Our Hotel in Hanoi (Note How Skinny) |
