Our eight days in the northern Vietnam were spent among three cities: Hanoi, Sapa and Halong Bay. We did quite a bit of sightseeing, trekking and soaking up the feel of the north. Below you will find a brief overview of the highlights and a selection of our favorite pictures from these cities. Enjoy!
In Hanoi, some of the most interesting tourist attractions provided insight into the views and beliefs of the ruling Communist party. While Vietnamese Communism seems to be largely relegated to politics with few of the self-destructive economic reforms of the former Soviets of Khmer Communists, there is no shortage of Communist propaganda in both the Hoa Lo Prison and the Ho Chi Minh Museum. The Prison museum focuses largely on the crimes committed against the Vietnamese people by the French during their occupation. It contrasts this brutal treatment with the “wonderful treatment” afforded the American pilots captured during the American War. There are pictures of Americans playing volleyball, celebrating Christmas and even being given souvenirs upon their release. I would bet most of the pilots would not find this a fair or balanced depiction.
We left Hanoi on a comfortable overnight sleeper train to Sapa in the mountains of the northwest. Our two days were spent trekking through green terraced rice paddies and small ethnic minority Vietnamese villages. Our guide for the two days was a Black Hmong. In addition to our guide we also had a whole troop of Black Hmong women and girls that escorted us the entire first morning. They would help us across tricky parts of the path, make us animal shapes from fern leaves and practice their English by asking an endless stream of questions: “How old are you? How many brothers and sisters do you have? Are you married?” and Amy’s favorite, “How many kids do you have?” It did not come as a surprise when the hand embroidery came out as we got close to our lunch stop. And since it was handmade and they had walked nearly three hours with us we both bought a small belt. While very attractive I have no idea what we will us them for, but it was hard to say no. Our escorts are quite the practiced saleswomen.
After Sapa we were off to Halong Bay. While the unique rock pillars and cliffs were amazing, the weather was not very cooperative for pictures. It was overcast and hazy for nearly three days, so we did our best trying to get a couple of shots when the sun would peek through. We had a great time cruising on our boat and seeing the National Park on Cat Ba Island. After a brief stop back in Hanoi it was off to Hue by overnight bus. This bus was not your standard motor coach. The seats were on two levels and all reclined to nearly flat beds. This made the average speed of 25mph fly by as we slept in relative comfort with the help of ear plugs and Benadryl. At some point in the night we crossed the 17th parallel and the former DMZ, marking our arrival in southern Vietnam.
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Awesome photos and stories!
Got your postcard about TimTams and since I’m down to my last 3 in the freezer, was pretty jealous. Keep slammin’ those little pieces of heaven and you’d better have a Vietnamese food post coming up soon.
Mmm…
Glad the postcard made it. I am surprised by how fast it got to Chicago from Bali. The Indonesian Post must be more efficient than they appear! I will start working on a Vietnamese food post ASAP. The food has become increasingly more flavorful and varied as we have made our way south. The only bummer about being in Saigon during Tet is that many of the traditional Vietnamese restaurants are closed all week. There is still plenty to choose from though.