Hello Hanoi And A Overnight Trip To Halong Bay

Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam, smaller than HCM City with 7 million population. It feels like a western city with modern stores, wider streets, and tall buildings. There are highways with overpasses and hundreds of new office buildings and condos being built–a two bedroom condo costs about $250,000. Still a zillion motorbikes and traffic but it doesn’t feel as crowded. We went to Ba Dinh Square, home of the presidential palace and “Uncle Ho’s” mausoleum (he goes to Russia for one month every year for some body maintenance). He is there for you to see but viewing was closed the day we went……. which was a good thing since the lines exceed 3 hours. We saw the changing of the guards.

The grounds were lovely and impressive. Standing in sharp contrast is the simple house on stilts where Ho Chi Minh lived until 1969 when he died at age 79. There is also a lotus-shaped One Pillar Pagoda emerging from a pond. I have learned the difference between a temple and pagoda: monks have to live in the structure for it to be a temple. We were there for Buddha’s birthday and there were colorful flags flying around all the temples/pagodas.

We had a visit to what is left of the “Hanoi Hilton”. Three fourth’s of it has been torn down for a high rise apartment building. This prison was built by the French during their 100 year conquest period. The information in the prison museum was 95% about what the French did to the Vietnamese people–they even had the original guillotine–not much about American POW’s. This is where John McCain was held. We walked by a small lake in the middle of the city which still has the wreckage of a B52 bomber.

In the afternoon we took a cyclo tour of the old quarter (narrow streets crammed full of shops, food stands, and little restaurants) and saw some interesting sights. We stopped for some egg coffee–a whole egg is whipped with sugar and mixed with coffee. The cup is served in a little bowl of hot water–very tasty.

The next day we traveled to Ky Son Village where living has been the same for centuries (minus today’s electricity). The older women believe it is a sigh of beauty to have black teeth–they eat special berries–and we pay $$$ for Crest white strips.

In the country and in the little village the locals dry out the rice in their walkways, driveways and public squares. The rice kernels in the husks are used for planting new crops.

There is ALWAYS a temple or pagoda around the next bend. We left Hanoi for Halong Bay–about 4 hours by bus with a couple stops for breaks and shopping. We were headed for our overnight cruise on a luxury junk boat in this bay with 1969 limestone outcroppings. An incredible place. We had wonderful meals and the opportunity to go swimming in the China Sea, climb to see beautiful caves and explore other caves by dragon boat. I had a lovely room with a lemongrass infuser and teak bathroom/shower.

The Vietnamese have a little challenge with spelling–only made me like them more. The boat name was correct.

We headed back to Hanoi to fly to Hue but stopped at an oyster/pearl farm. They showed us the 3 different oysters that are used for pearl farming–each produces a different color pearl. They use tiny ball implants made from the smooth oyster shell to insert into young oysters. It can take 4 to 6 years for the pearl to grow and only 25% meet quality requirements for jewelry–but nothing is wasted. The oysters used for food, the shell for implants and inlaid decorations and the rejected pearls are ground up for expensive wrinkle cream. I looked at a single gray pearl the size of lemon drop and the cost was $370.

I flew on to my next adventure.