The Never Ending Journey

I am writing this almost 10 days since we departed Vietnam.    We did, as mentioned in the previous post, arrive at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum a little later than planned- 7:25am to be exact. We headed for several apparent entries to the site but on duty guards would inevitably stop us and direct us towards the left. We eventually found the main entrance for "tourist riff raff" and locals some distance from the tomb. We quickly joined the line, which seemed to consist of several tour groups from China. One spent some time chatting with Susanna who understood their dialect. They seemed somewhat stunned as she discussed Canadian weather and pulled up photos on her phone of our front yard buried to a depth of 3 feet in snow. Our line barely moved between 7:30 and 8am but shortly after began to move forward at a rather fast pace. After clearing security we were released into the main Mausoleum Gardens. Our entry into the tomb was delayed somewhat due to a large group of students...

Following our return to Hanoi from Halong Bay we spent Monday morning visiting sites in the Old Town including the Temple of the Jade Mountain, located on an island at the northern end of Hoan Kiem Lake, a major tourist attraction within minutes of our hotel. We then spent the afternoon visiting the Temple of Literature, a massive temple complex dedicated to education in the western part of the city.  We then made a stop at the nearby Museum of Fine Art, a 3 story building featuring art ranging from the dawn of civilization to the present time. While we cabbed it to the temple we walked back, experiencing some of the city’s stranger sights. Lenin Park, featuring a statue of the communist leader was, one the one hand a respite for the city’s male population who congregated in groups playing Chinese checkers and various card games. At the other end of the park, skateboarding teenagers used the base of Lenin’s statue as a ramp while he seemed to look down, disapprovingly. Further ea...

The trip to Hanoi was an experience, and one I don’t plan to repeat. Leaving Hue train station at 9:30pm, we surveyed our “soft sleeper accommodations and wondered what we were in for. The journey took till noon the next day and covered approximately 700km.  Luckily we didn’t have to share our 4 berth sleeper car with anyone else, so that was a plus. We hadn’t really expected to get a whole lot of sleep and the rattling and vibration of the train virtually guaranteed a mostly sleepless night. Luckily stops were relatively infrequent with the none between 1 and 5 am.  A fairly heavy mist obliterated all but the closest details of the passing countryside for much of the morning. But as we got within 3 hours of Hanoi it began to lift and we could see the countless miles of rice paddies as well as dozens of small towns and villages.  Entering Hanoi the buildings were so close to the tracks that we could have picked washing off balconies if the windows hadn’t been closed. ...

Our day started with a visit to the Thien Mu Pagoda. Built in 1844, it featured an impressive 7 story Pagoda overlooking the Perfume River. Behind it, there is a large gateway leading to the temple which features a number of Buddha’s including a large bronze laughing Buddha. Behind the temple was a large courtyard featuring some examples of Bonsai trees of different species. Also there was the Austin car used by the monk Thich Quan Duc who famously burned himself to death in 1963 to protest the policies of the South Vietnamese president.  After a short boat trip to the town centre we walked to the Citadel and spent a couple of hours touring the main buildings. Originally built in the early 1800’s, it is a massive complex that originally housed the king and his staff, including bodyguards, wives, concubines etc. Largely reduced to rubble by the US military, only a few buildings remained of the former Imperial City.  Our next stop was the city market, the Dong Ba mark...

Tuesday was not a great day. For starters our ride to Hue was a no show until I put in a call to our tour operator. When his driver did show up, almost an hour late, it was clear that he spoke little or no English and that he assumed his job was to take us to the airport. A few texts and WhatsApp chats later he set off for what was, to him, an unplanned trip to Hue. Obviously realizing he had two rather pissed off passengers he took us on a meandering trip through Da Nang, stopping at Marble Mountain, a local tourist spot in the hopes that this would offset our frustration. A few photo ops later and we set off for Hue following a coastal road for several kilometres. The road ultimately turned inland and we began a slow winding climb into the mountains.  By the time we reached the Van Hoi Pass the road ahead was almost obliterated by a dense mist. Stopping at the highest point of the pass, visibility was down to less than 100 feet, totally obscuring our surroundings. After several...

The flight to DaNang was short and sweet, just over an hour, with almost half of that sitting on the taxiway waiting for planes ahead of us.  It took little or no time for our luggage to arrive and we spotted our driver almost immediately. He even had my name spelled correctly on his paper sign.  The trip to Hoi An took less than half an hour and we were checked in, showered, changed and enjoying lunch by 1:30pm.     Even though it was a toasty 29 degrees it was still a lot more comfortable than HCMC.   We took a slow walk to the town centre and discovered that Old Town was an amazing blend of old Chinese buildings and architecture. Officially one pays an admission charge to enter Old Town (Consider it a donation for upkeep that also includes access to 5 buildings of your choice.(We did enter the Cantonese Assembly Hall with a large dragon in front. An open courtyard lead to a large alter at the back which was dedicated to  Quan Cong, apparently an este...

The alarm went off at 5 and we met our driver at 6:02am. We then waited at the next hotel as the group from there took 20 minutes to drag their asses on board.  This same group seemed to require a coffee break and or a pee break every 20 minutes.  The trip to Cai Bei took just over 90 minutes and after driving through the largely none descript town for a short while we parked near the water.  A short walk took us to the dock where we boarded a tourist boat that seemed seaworthy enough to trust for an hour or two. Our “trip” to the floating market was a bit of a letdown as the floating market consisted of one boat selling a variety of fruits and drinks. Actually there were a couple of other boats but they seemed to be offering clothing and items that required the purchase of multiple units. Zing all honesty the guide from the previous day already warned us that the market varied in size depending on the time of day. He also stated that it seemed to be a slowly dying in...