On Thursday we took an all-day trip to Ha Long Bay, a world heritage site. There are three thousand islands in the bay, with unusual formations. It was a four hour drive there through agricultural and industrial areas.
The agriculture that we saw were small plots that were cared for by families. We only saw one mechanized rototiller on the entire way, so all the work was being done by hand with hoes, rakes and shovels. The soil looked really heavy and damp, so the work isn't easy. The fresh vegetables and fruits are sold in Hanoi, which is the big population center. The food here in the city is really fresh because it's grown on the agricultural land on the nearby outskirts.
We went through several industrial areas. The factories are gigantic, with the workforce living in dormitories on the factory compound. There are thousands of workers in any one factory. We saw a shift change and many, many youngish girls emerged from the factory to walk along the roadside to the nearby town. We saw ceramics, milk products, shoes, garments, ipads, and other technology products factories. They are all new and located near sources of power.
You could tell that an industrial area was approaching by checking the skyline for towers from the electricity plants. The plants were belching white smoke/steam, but in one area about 20 miles long, the whole area was covered with ashy stuff, which we discovered was coal dust. The visibility was limited because of the dust and everything was grey. The edges of the streets had an ash build-up which was washedwashed down by a big water truck, the kind we're used to on construction sites. There is a huge coal mine nearby and evidently this was the "fallout" from the mine.
Everyone on the street or anywhere outside wears a cloth facemask to protect against pollution. We bought a facemask like this today at the mall. All scooter riders wear them and a lot of pedestrians also. They hook around your ears and cover the nose and mouth and come in all sorts of colorful patterns. The m.o. for scooter riders is to put on your mask, then your helmet. There is a new helmet law in Vietnam now so everyone is supposed to wear a helmet. We bought some helmets today for $5 each, so you can imagine the protection that they would give. ANSI would not approve these, no way.
We arrived at Ha Long Bay and it is just what it looks like on Google images. In fact I suggest you go there and look and see what it looks like when the sun is out and there is no pollution. The visibility was about 1/2 mile on the day we went there and the sky was disappointingly grey. But the islands are indeed special and we have some nice photos. We boarded the junk and were served a good multi-course lunch. Then we went to the first stop which was by the floating villages. Entire villages are basically floating docks with houses on them and net enclosures for fish. Boats come by and people buy the fish, in fact you could buy a fish and they would cook it for you on the bigf boat. It seemed strange because we had just eaten plenty and had no room for more fish.The fish are caught in another area further offshore and put in the net enclosures and fattened up. They also had shrimp, and lots of kinds of crabs.
A funny thing happened, but I didn't get it on the camera. Someone on our boat bought one of the BIG fish, about a fifteen pounder. A man was bringing it up to the top of the junk, ready to whack it on the head a little and put it in a metal tank for holding. But when he put the net up near the opening of the tank the fish gave a mighty flail of the tail and jumped out of the net, over the top and side of the boat, into a two-story free fall into the South China Sea, where most probably he/she still is. It was really funny to watch.
The families live in sort of shacks on these floating docks so all the family stuff is there, kids, dogs, cats, multi-generational adults, tv (generator powered), cooking stuff, bedding stuff, it's all there.
We transferred to a much smaller boat and had a little tour under a cave into an enclosed sea area and then back out again. One of the strangest things to me was that the South China Sea didn't have any sea smell like we're used to along the CA coast. I kept sniffing and it never smelled like ocean to me. The water was not very cold.
We then got back on the junk and went to another island to see the Cave of Heaven. This was a deep underground cave with stalactites and stalagmites in a pretty big area. No need for spelunking here. It was really touristy as all the junks come here, but it was interesting. Then we went back to the harbor and boarded our little bus again for the 4 hour ride back. Riding in the dark was a totally different experience, a bit scary as there are no seatbelts and driving is nothing like it is in the U.S. (more about driving another time) It was a long day, but worthwhile and we learned a lot.
November 28 Hanging out in Hanoi
Today we had business to attend to, so we walked to the Vietnam Airlines main office downtown. On the way we stopped at a cakes and coffee restaurant for breakfast and had what the name implies, cake and coffee. Since neither of us "do" caffine, we basicallly trotted around Hanoi for the rest of the day after drinking the super strong coffee. We got the air reservations straight and then walked to the Hanoi Hilton Museum. This was started in 1896 by the French for the Vietnamese revolutionaries who were protesting French control. The conditions were pretty much inhumane and those prisoners who were the leaders were executed by guillitoine.The prison was shut down in the '40s.
When the U.S. war began, the Vietnamese needed a place for the Americans they captured and they used this prison. This was where many pilots were incarcerated. It looked like the conditions were much better then, enough so there was really not much suffering, just conditions that were primitive by American standards. It was an interesting place.
In the tourist sector I bought a better netbook bag, one with more zippers and I didn't like the contrasting stitching on it. So one of the jobs was to find a permanent black magic marker in Hanoi. We found that if you wander around long enough, you can find most anything. The trick is to not let whatever is in the window display throw you off. We did find a marker in a bookstore which had art supplies and some teacher supplies. The Bennetts of Hanoi. So far we've bought five scooter helmets, one silk sheet, one baseball cap (I lost mine the first day in Hong Kong), a netbook bag and food. Because we're traveling light, we're not loading up on "stuff."
We walked on to the Women's Museum, which shows the history of women and their role in Vietnam. There were lots of interesting displays, particularly the ones with the women from the highlands part of Vietnam. Staining your teeth black is a sign of beauty for one of the groups. The clothing displays showed the local costumes, also from the highland area.
We were still walking on a caffiene high so we went to the mall. This is like a Western mall, about 4 floors high with merchants that you'd recognize, although would you know whether the merchandise is real or a knock off? On the top floor was a sort of K Mart type area with a little bit of everything. We bought hand sanitizer, a scooter mask, and a scooter rain protector.
For all of these transactions we use VND, or Vietnamese Dong which exhanges for about 17,000 to 19,000 to one American dollar. So for the black marker the price was 17,000 or about a dollar. It is a little confusing, but merchants write down the number, say 135 with no zeros ( you just figure the zeros in your head) and that would be under ten bucks. Like anything else, as you use it more and practice, it gets easier. If you want to change some bigger money, you can become an instant millionaire. The old money system had coins, but today the money is all in bills. Everyone carries around a wad of bills, you see people counting their money as they walk on the sidewalk.
Then we went scooter helmet shopping which was on a block two blocks up from my apt. We selected five spiffy ones, which will look totally cool, although they will provide minimal head protection. $5 each. After that we walked to the big building on the next corner from my apt. and went through the locals mall. Picture an outdoor market in Mexico, but indoors. There were no Anglos here and each area had a different section, clothing, shoes, food. Lots of big pieces of meat on the counters, also fowl and live seafood. The veggies and fruits looked very fresh. We did see one scooter person carrying a big cow leg with the hoof dangling over the handle bars, but didn't get it on the camera.
Back to the apt. and time to get ready to travel light (backpack only) for 6 days in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). There's lots more photos posted on Facebook.
Then we went scooter helmet shopping which was on a block two blocks up from my apt. We selected five spiffy ones, which will look totally cool, although they will provide minimal head protection. $5 each. After that we walked to the big building on the next corner from my apt. and went through the locals mall. Picture an outdoor market in Mexico, but indoors. There were no Anglos here and each area had a different section, clothing, shoes, food. Lots of big pieces of meat on the counters, also fowl and live seafood. The veggies and fruits looked very fresh. We did see one scooter person carrying a big cow leg with the hoof dangling over the handle bars, but didn't get it on the camera.
Back to the apt. and time to get ready to travel light (backpack only) for 6 days in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). There's lots more photos posted on Facebook.
November 29th Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon
Wow! What a change in temperature. Hanoi was in the high 60's and HCMC is in the low 90's with 95% humidity. We arrived in the hottest part of the day and it was steamy. We checked in and began walking around, pretty soon we were dripping with sweat. We noticed immediately that this is a bigger, more spread out place with evidence of more affluence. There are many tall modern buildings, 5 star hotels, fancy restaurants and shops which is quite a bit different than Hanoi. The streets seem wider and have fancy chrome topped center dividers. There are several well maintained parks where people take their leisure. We were caught in a downpour and got drenched, but since it's so hot, it's not much of a problem.
The minute the first drop appeared, all the scooter riders got out their rain ponchos, put them on and continued riding. It was amazing how in one minute all the riders were weatherproofed. We walked over to the Song River and saw scooter and pedestrian ferries operating. Strands of green water plants were floating down this working river which looked out of place amongst the barges and small ships.
