Journey up north
A few weeks ago, I took the opportunity of Robert’s work trip to Hanoi to do some sightseeing around the city and to take a a week-long trip to the northern highlands with two friends, Kellee and Jim. We know them from Vienna, when Kellee worked for Robert. They are in their last year of a three-year tour in Hanoi.
Robert and I stayed at the fancy Metropole Hotel in Hanoi (the top right inset in the picture). We almost stayed there during quarantine, but thank goodness, we didn’t, because, that room was small!
While Robert was at work, I was able to do a little sight-seeing around Hanoi. The city is old - inhabited since 3000 BC and a relatively major city through our Western Middle Ages. Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) is much younger, and it shows. Hanoi has retained a lot of historic buildings and areas, while Saigon has almost nothing older than 1950. I went to the Temple of Literature (below left), which was originally built as a university in 1070 (!). That would put it older than the University of Bologna (1088) or Oxford (1096).
cathedral to the left, temple to the right. Can you spot the differences?
It was quite beautiful and bucolic, which is kind of weird to say in a very big and somewhat poluted city. But it was kind of an green escape from the rest of the city, with large lawns, water pools filled with fish, and nice pagoda-style buildings.
I had walked here and saw a big church (pic below). It was actually St. Joseph’s cathedral. It opened in 1886, which is pretty impressive, given it’s size and what I assume was a relatively small Christian population at the time. It appears it was one of the first things that the French did in Indochine. It was attractive, although I couldn’t go in. I actually find that most of the churches here are closed a lot of the time. Very different from Vienna, where you could walk into any church at any time. Even St. Stephen’s Cathedral, the main tourist attraction.
Notably, most people are atheists or follow Vietnamese folk religion. Weirdly, of institutional religion, there are more Catholics than Buddhists according to a recent government census (although this is contested - it’s true that neither Buddhism or Catholicism are followed by more than 10% of the population).
Look closely to see the red bridge to the Temple of jade mountain!
Finally, near our hotel was a cute little lake (Hanoi is filled with lakes and was built on the banks of the Red River. Just like Shreveport! I knew there was something that made me feel like home!). The lake has a small island that is the site of the small but lovely Temple of Jade Mountain.
It has a famous red bridge that can be seen to the right. I paid my $0.90 to get in - worth it!
That Friday night, we went to T.U.N.G. This is the fanciest restaurant in Hanoi. The full name is a real tongue-twister: TWISTED - UNIQUE - NATURAL - GASTRONOMIC RESTAURANT. It was a bit pretentious, but the food was great. We even had our own private room.
The next day, Robert went back to Ho Chi Minh City and I started my week-long trip to the northern highlands. It is very remote - we had to take a night-bus on a 7-hour trip. It was not comfortable, although I was able to get a little sleep.
(1) Before our 7-hour journey - Jim and I are excited. (2) That arrow represents 6 and a half hours of bus trave. And look! China is just across the border. (3) Me in an unauthorized (!) candid LOOKING LIKE A STUFFED SAUSAGE.
We arrived at 4:30am and were able to sleep for a few more hours in the guest house that our tour guide owned. It wasn’t too bad, but a bit weird. The next day, we settled on our itinerary and then off to Ba Be Lake, a pretty lake with settlements all around it. We stayed in Mr. Duc’s homestay, and he gave us some home-made rice hooch along with delicious dinner. We especially liked the stir-fried pumpkin with garlic. Plus fried spring rolls - they’ve never done me wrong.
Out on the boat - of course we all had to pose…
Out in the Vietnamese countryside, you really get the power of time and water to wear erode the world. Not to get too philosophical, but enough of both, and a river can dig a tunnel through a mountain. We visited one of these gigantic cavern/tunnels - it was so big that boats can easily sail through. Stalactites and stalagmites, bats and guano, old lady selling coke. Just the inevitability of history shoved in your face to tell you that you don’t matter. Fun!
On the way out, Kellee bought some traditional viagra. You can see me tasting it below. Also, Robert is now pregnant. Unicorn due in 5 months. We are waiting to find out the sex.
It was a full day, because after my dose of medicine, I picked myself up and went to a waterfall, tried crab (shells and all - (un)surprisingly crunchy) and then went kayaking with Kellee.
Sadly, I don’t seem to have any pictures of us with Mr. Duc.
But the next morning we got up early to journey to the east to a very big waterfall and the border of China. We went on a bamboo barge that sailed up to the waterfall. But we drifted back on the Chinese side, so that is the first time that I have been in China proper. Albeit illegally.
After the waterfall, we walked up to a pagoda with wonderful views of the whole border area. In the picture to the right, you can see the karst mountains in the landscape behind me. The famous Ha Long Bay just off the coast of Vietnam is similarly full of these karst mountains. Driving through them is very impressive.
Plus everything is extremely green. Such a contrast from our past posts abroad in the Middle East.
At the same pagoda, there were a number of illustrations that show people what would happen in their next life if they did something right or wrong in this one. For example:
Spend money wisely, get good luck in business.
Appreciate others’ success, get many good luck.
Help others get legitimate jobs, descendants get glories.
These particular admonishments are very up-to-date:
If you create computer viruses, you will be mad and foolish.
If you waste time for travels, you will suffer from a disease that causes your inability to move.
Uh, oh. I hope that last one’s not directed at me!
The next day we went to Pac Bo. Ho Chi Minh first stayed here when he came back to Vietnam for the first time after 30 years. His home was a cave with a small mouth (see cave below to the right). There is also a pagoda/temple dedicated to Uncle Ho. As you can see, it is right up against the border with China. You could easily walk across. Needless to say, I did not want to be shot on sight, so I stayed right here in safe Vietnam.
Ho Chi Minh named the geography around there - Lenin stream and Karl Marx mountain.
The last two days, we drove a lot more, went to a fun town called Dong Van that has a traditional old quarter, and I ate horse (ugh). We did not eat dog, although there were a number of restaurants that offered it. Not my cup of tea, nor was horse, to be honest. I included a bunch of photos in the gallery below.
