Next stop is Vietnam (Hanoi)

Hanoi was the first stop for the 6 of us in Vietnam. It was once the Capital city of (then) North Vietnam. Under 1 name or another, controlled by many different leaderships, it has been around since….well, the beginning. The first thing that occurred to us (overwhelmingly) was the traffic as we approached the “old quarter” from the airport. It was dizzying! Viewed through our eyes, there seemed to be absolutely no rules, no pause, and no margin for error, and it was unrelenting. Hundreds of vehicles (mostly scooters) approach any given intersection, from all sides, and plow straight on through narrowly escaping collision.

Bruce and I had searched the car rental places online before arriving, and found nothing available to us. We thought that was strange, so investigated further once in Vietnam. Basically, they won’t rent cars to foreigners for reasons that became quite obvious. It takes foreigners a while to adjust to the action on the asphalt.

Lolo picked our first hotel, and it was a winner! The Rising Dragon Villa, right in the heart of the Old Quarter. No pool (there aren’t any outdoor pools in Hanoi), but quite “high end”, included a great breakfast, and the best concierge staff we’ve come across. The staff there was so friendly, welcoming, and useful. Bruce and I borrowed one of the staff members (“Hue”) for about 20min and she enthusiastically presented different ideas of things we should do, and tutored us on some of the (very) basics in the Vietnamese language. The language as it turns out, is even more complicated than the roads.

At the end of the 30 days in Thailand people were actually asking me if I spoke Thai. I had mastered “hello”, which most who put in the effort accomplish, but the follow up’s of “how are you”, and “whats your name” caught locals off-guard. It made things much easier for me (us). Restarting my learning all over in Vietnamese was exhausting just to think of, lol.

Hanoi is a maze of streets, with no real “downtown”, and very few buildings over 4 or 5 stories. It has no underground metro, and one could walk block after block without noticing any major differences from one to another.
After a few days, we decided to go on an adventure to Nimh Binh, a rural destination about 2-3 hrs south of Hanoi. After exploring the Karst landscape of South Thailand (with the limestone up-shoots inland, and in the sea), we decided against the major tourist destination of the region, Ha Long Bay. We believed it to be very similar to South Thailand. Instead, Nimh Binh, was to have beautiful Karst inland mountains, green green rice fields, and nature at it’s finest… But I’ll get back to that.

We spent a night in Nimh Binh, then returned to Hanoi.

One of our favourite places in Hanoi became a small lake about an 8 minute walk from our hotel. On the weekends it was totally shut off to vehicles, giving us a little sanctuary from the traffic, and the girls a place to run free. There was often live music playing, bubbles drifting in the air which the girls loved chasing, and some pagoda’s which dated back more than 1000 years. One pagoda, a small one, was right in the middle of the lake, only accessible by boat.
We also visited a museum of ethnology, which the 6 of us enjoyed very much. There, we were able to look back at the history of the Vietnamese people. The girls had a blast going into the different types of housing used over the years, and seeing and learning about the water puppet show.

We enjoyed many meals, but one that stands out was at the “walking street”, where we sat on tiny little stools street side with hundreds (maybe a thousand) other people all gathered in a relatively small area.

On the 21st (of April), the 6 of us gathered for 1 last dinner together before Papa and Lolo headed to the airport to catch their flight to Japan. The fair well was somewhat emotional, heightened by Ellie, who struggled to holdback tears. Thanks again Papa and Lolo, what a wonderful time together!

The next day back to just the 4 Cameron’s. We boarded a bus to Ba Be Lake, about 5 hrs North of Hanoi, not too far from the Chinese border.

Leaving Hanoi at 2PM, we didn’t arrive at our homestay in Ba Be until after dark. Our homestay gave us 1 large room, with absolutely nothing in it. Just four mattresses which were more more like pads, that just unfolded and were laid on the floor for us. Rope was rigged just below the ceiling so we could slide mosquito nets overhead. Out our door, along the side of the house, off the back balcony was the shared bathroom. The view from the balcony… yet to be seen due to the darkness. The family who owned the house made us a great dinner (although we had no idea the cost). While eating we ran into 1 of the other guests, Ray from Alaska. He was a 60 something yr old man, very interesting one at that. Born in Minnesota, worked for years in Alaska during the summer, and in Ghana (Africa) during the winters. The 5 of us agreed to rent a boat for the next day to explore the lake and surrounding sights.
Ba Be Lake is Vietnams largest fresh water lake. In the morning, we were able to see it from the view on the back balcony, it was quite a majestic way to wake. Green rice fields led to lake and mountains surrounded all. We went by boat exploring the lake until we came to a large cave, so we stopped to explore it.

The cave was pretty awesome, upon entry by boat, we looked up to see the soaring ceilings above. Probably a few hundred feet tall. Bats, squeaked and fluttered way above. We parked the boat, and proceeded to investigate on foot. At some points in the middle, we turned to the flashlights on our phones for light. But eventually saw the large exit on the other side. Although a little eerie, the girls were not at all intimidated. We all had a great time.

The driver then lead us to a water front restaurant. The 5 of us sat down and a “waiter” approached…Zero english. We made an eating gesture and asked for rice “Co’m”, he nodded yes, and went away. The next thing we know, a team of people is bring us enough food to feed an army. Delicious, but I should have known better. We had a feast, then were approached with a bill for $ half a million! Now, 500 000 Vietnamese “Dong” is only $30 CND, but I was a little annoyed nevertheless. I felt like they saw us coming and brought us all they could cook just so they could charge us. Of course upon paying the bill I mentioned to them that they should get a menu (in ENG)…They smiled and nodded yes, they didn’t understand the words I was speaking, but they knew full well what I was saying…

We made one more stop at a waterfall before heading back to our homestay…All in all, it was a pretty good tour of Ba Be Lake.

When we got back, the obvious hit me… These guys wont be able to accept a credit card for the stay and meals, and I was running out of Dong. Also, after our experience at lunch, I thought I had better figure out how much last nights dinner was (in writing), and the morning breakfast, ect. He did tell me at breakfast that dinners were $100,000, and breakfast were 50,000. But when I approached him with the cash, he said it was per person, even each girl…arg. We had exactly enough to pay for the room for 2 nights, and the meals we had already eaten, no more. We were effectively broke!

Thankfully, Ray our new friend offered to lend us half a mil and go with us the next day on the first bus outta there. We woke at 5:50 the next morning, after eating instant noodles the night before (15k x 2 servings for the 4 of us), and found a bus heading towards civilization. Although we were planning to spend a few more days in the north, we were relieved to head back to Hanoi and the comforts of the Rising Dragon Villa.

It was now the 25th of April, and we had already booked a flight from Hanoi, to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) on the 30th. At this point, we wished our flight was a few days sooner, but would have to make the best of a few extra days in Hanoi… So we did. We rode the local bus to the Southeast suburb where there was the ancient ceramic village. Lol, it wasn’t a village made of ceramics like in the Wizard of Oz, rather a place where the locals have been making ceramics for centuries. It has become world renown for the work that it produces. The girls each made little cups and bowls, although I had to spin the round platform they used. Lisa made one too. Then they painted their works. We had planned to ship them back to Canada, but discovered that the international shipping companies in Hanoi would not accept ceramics (I had thought as much).
We did school work by the lake, which always drew a crowd. Local people would stop and sit with the girls as I taught the ABC’s.

Lisa, made sure she was fully caught up with her work before we flew 1500 kms south to the Capital city of Saigon.