Vietnam, Part 2: Halong Bay

I've never been one for packaged tours. I'm not a fan of spending lots of money for obnoxious tour guide and a group of people you may or may not like... it's also just nice to have the freedom to be spontaneous when you travel. However, it's quite difficult to take a trip to Halong Bay without a tour. Most people who come to Halong Bay spend a night or two on a junk-- and if you are going to pay for the boat ride, it might as well include someone picking you up at the door of your hotel in Hanoi!



Halong Bay is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to. Thousands of limestone cliffs rise out of crystal clear turquoise water for miles around. There are tons of dramatic caves carved by the water into the cliffs, some are underwater or hard to reach but others are accessible to tourists. When I got up close to one of these impressive cliffs (in a kayak) I was fascinated by the tropical plants growing all over it. Big, leafy plants manage to grow out of the tiniest crevices in the rock.



Our boat was superb. Of course, our guides said that it was one of the nicest in the bay, but I don't really trust them to tell the truth about something like that. It seems to me that all of the many, many one night/two day junk tours that depart each day are exactly the same. They offer the same tours, the same activities, anchor in the same bays... the only difference is the quality of the boat and the price. These tours are really an example of price discrimination at it's best. We paid $60 while other people on the boat paid up to $150. Our tour guide told us that night over drinks that the company has three boats of varying levels of comfort. After all the bookings are made, people from the budget boats are sometimes moved up to the luxury boat to fill up the rooms. I'm pretty sure that is what happened to us.

Our boat tour brought us to a really spectacular cave called Sung Sot Cave. I think that this is the first time that I've ever been in a cave, so I was really fascinated. We climbed up some steep stairs that led into one large cave... that led into a much larger cave, that led into an absolutely enormous cave. I'm not sure how big it was, but I feel that a football field could have fit inside it comfortably. As cool as the cave was, the experience of visiting it really wasn't all that great. Did I mention the billions of tours that leave each day? Well, we were all there at the same time. This meant that there were literally hundreds of other people in the cave, pushing in front of other peoples photos, stopping in the middle of the path, and generally making it impossible to enjoy the place at your own pace. I would have much preferred to see a cave that was half the size with no other groups.



The rest of the day was spent relaxing. We were fed both lunch and dinner on the boat, good, fresh seafood. In the afternoon we relaxed on the upper deck in the sun and then jumped off the top several times into the water below (terrifying at first, then exhilarating). At night we pushed several tables together and relaxed and chatted over drinks with a group of about ten other passengers. This is probably the nicest thing about going on a tour-- the opportunity to meet other people. Some were just ending a short vacation, others were somewhere in the middle of an epic backpacking trip, all had great stories about what they had seen and what they were planning to do.



The next morning I woke up early to see the sunrise and enjoy the bay at it's most peaceful. It was really pleasant to be the only one up on the deck, watching the other boats gradually wake up. Later that morning we went for an hour-long kayak ride through the bay. I loved having the opportunity to explore the rock formations a little closer up. I wish now that I had brought my camera with me on the kayak trip. I was worried it would get wet. After that, it was back to land and onto the bus back to Hanoi! Many of the people on the boat opted for a three day tour... I wish we had been able to to that, but our vacation was just too short to spend so much time in one place.

Next post: Perfume Pagoda

Old Town Hanoi

Old Town Hanoi, originally uploaded by AnnaRae.

Vietnam, Part 1: Hanoi

Our first day in Vietnam was spent in Hanoi. Hanoi is a lovely city. The old town, where we stayed, is filled with colonial architecture. The buildings are bright colors and are covered with balconies and elaborate woodwork and molding-- how refreshing to be in a city with no skyscrapers! The streets are shaded with trees, which I'm sure is a relief when the weather is hot. I'm not exactly sure what the temperature was in Hanoi, but it certainly felt much cooler and much less humid than in Bangkok. Like a lovely spring day rather than a boiling hot summer day. We hit the town after checking into our hotel and booking our trip to Halong Bay. Although Hanoi was our jumping off point for all of our side trips, this was really the only day that we would be able to experience it.



Our first stop was the lake. Hoan Kiem Lake is located in the heart of central Hanoi. When you come to the lake early in the morning (which I did) it is surrounded by older Vietnamese stretching and doing tai chi and other exercises. At night, the lake is lit up and couples, young and old, stroll around it. The trees are filled with glowing orbs and the lake itself is surrounded by what appear to be flashing, color shifting Christmas lights. I'm not sure if this was just for the 1000th Birthday of Hanoi (which happened this month) or if this is normal. The lake has two small islands with shrines/temples on them. One of them, Ngoc Son Temple, is accessible by bridge. We hopped across to the temple to take a better look. The island was wooded and pretty, the temple itself was nice but it is really the unique location that makes it a must see.



Next we headed to the Ho Chi Minh Museum. I have not been very impressed by the museums in Asia. Most of them have been a jumble of artifacts under poor lighting, but this museum was really well put together. It was filled with fascinating displays of photographs and artifacts from Ho Chi Minh's life along with a special exhibit on Ho Chi Minh's devotion to improving education in Vietnam. I didn't really know much of anything about Ho Chi Minh before going to Vietnam, so it was a pretty edifying experience.



After finishing the museum we toured the rest of the Ho Chi Minh complex. We saw the underwhelming one-pillar pagoda standing in a pool of disgusting water and then looped around to see the front of Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum. Normally you can go inside and see his preserved body, but the mausoleum is closed in the month of October. I'm fine with that... not a big fan of dead bodies. Near the mausoleum we saw the Presidential Palace and its grounds. We were able to walk past the stilt house Ho Chi Minh lived in for several years. I was pretty impressed that he lived so simply-- way to practice what you preach-- and then I saw the luxury cars in his garage.



Our last tourist stop on Day 1 was at the Temple of Literature, which was once the first university in Vietnam. Inside the compound there are beautiful temples and reflecting pools, all decked out for the 1000th birthday celebration. In particular I was fascinated by the giant turtle steles. These were giant stone tablets with big turtles on the bottom. On the tablets the names of doctors educated at the Temple of Literature are inscribed in Chinese characters. While in Vietnam I learned that the Vietnamese were ordered to use the Chinese language when the country was controlled by China. Rather than do that, they just began writing their own language with Chinese characters, which is why most temples and pagodas have Chinese writing on them. When the French colonized Vietnam they switched to writing Vietnamese in our alphabet.

As Hanoi was our home base for the trip I feel like I got to know the city fairly well. At night when we came home from tours we would wander around the old quarter, looking for restaurants to try. I particularly enjoyed Hanoi in the morning, when the city was just waking up and the air was still cool. The city is just so much calmer than Bangkok, even with the streets jammed with motorbikes. I also loved the crusty bread sold on the street corners. Bread is pretty easy to find in Thailand but it's not really eaten much by Thais. And when you do find it here, it isn't always that great.

On my last day in Hanoi I was able to visit Hoa Lo Prison, where John McCain was imprisoned during the Vietnam War. The museum was quite sobering. Most of the displays and information presented revolved around the terrible treatment of Vietnamese at the hands of the French. They even had an original guillotine (with pictures of several severed heads next to it... creepy). On the other hand, it seems like the Americans had a grand old time in prison! From the pictures I saw, they played basketball, celebrated Christmas, and joked around with their Vietnamese guards.



In short, Hanoi was just lovely and I'm glad that I was able to spend so much time there. In the next few days I'll blog about the other parts of my trip: Halong Bay, the Perfume Pagoda, and the Mai Chau Valley. You can see pictures of all of these things on my flickr.

Pho, Here I Come.

I need to head to the airport tomorrow at 4am, so I'll make this brief so I can get to sleep!

Vietnam tomorrow! Expect lots of pictures and stories when I get back next Wednesday. Here is our rough, rough itinerary.

Thursday: Fly into Hanoi, spend the day booking tours, strolling around the lake, and exploring Ho Chi Minh's tomb.

Friday: Head to Halong Bay. Explore the bay, relax, kayak, sleep on a junk.

Saturday: Second day in Halong Bay. More of the same and then back to Hanoi.

Sunday: Trip to the Perfume Pagoda. This requires a couple hours in a bus, a couple hours on a boat, and a couple hours of hiking. Apparently it's totally worth it. Back to Hanoi at night.

Monday: Here is where my roommates leave and I have two days to explore on my own. Maybe I'll stay in Hanoi if I'm really enamored with it. Otherwise, I'm hoping to go to a town (forget the name) where I can spend the night in a stilt house.

Tuesday: Who knows.

Wednesday: Return to Bangkok in the am! Get ready for work the next day.

National Museum

National Museum, originally uploaded by AnnaRae.

After a long string of lazy weekends, my roommates and I decided it was high time to do something touristy. We ended up visiting the National Museum-- still in Bangkok, but a long enough skytrain and boat ride for us to feel a world away from our neighborhood.

We found the museum pretty easily after a meandering walk down a street filled with amulet vendors. The museum was enormous, a fact I only realized after looking at my map as I walked out of the first gallery (where I'd spent an hour). Really? That one building was only a tenth of the museum? The first gallery we were in was devoted to Thai history from cavemen up until modern day, with over half of it devoted to the kings and their wonderous works. The displays had English writing so I managed to get a good history lesson out of it. The other galleries were devoted to art and artifacts so they didn't require quite so much time. There was the wood carving room, the porcelain room, the ivory room, etc., etc. The museum had some really beautiful and priceless artifacts and I enjoyed exploring it, but the displays were terrible. Lighting was poor, many things were crammed one on top of another, some galleries had a hodgepodge of seemingly unrelated objects. A good curator could do the place wonders.

We finished up our day trip with a stroll and dinner on Khao San Road. Still as grimy and touristy as the last time I visited it!

Sawadee kah Ronald!

Sawadee kah Ronald!, originally uploaded by AnnaRae.

Muay Thai

Muay Thai, originally uploaded by AnnaRae.

A little bit of one of the matches. This was probably shot during the fourth or fifth round judging from the crowd's reactions.

Warm Up Dance

Warm Up Dance, originally uploaded by AnnaRae.

This is how the boxers would warm up right before each match.

Muay Thai!

This past week was all about sports sports sports. I started last Saturday, watching the gripping Australian Football League Grand Final... which tied. On Sunday I played frisbee. On Monday I joined a netball team (more about that later). On Tuesday I watched the Packers lose to the Bears. And on Thursday I went and saw my first Muay Thai match. The week has rounded out with a viewing of the second Footy Grand Final (the tie breaker).

I've never really been very interested in watching boxing. Any sport where people are intentionally hurting others just never really sat well with me. I have trouble comprehending why anyone would participate in these sports... they do know that they will get hurt, don't they? Yet I've wanted to see a Muay Thai match since I've moved to Thailand. Muay Thai is Thailand's national sport and it's quite a . I don't know much about the technique, but to me it is very reminiscent of la box francaise. The boxers both strike their opponents with their hands and kick them with their legs and knees. I very nearly went to a match last month when a friend of mine was visiting from Chicago. However, his taxi ride to the place ended up taking so long that we didn't feel it was worthwhile to pay $60 to go in. I recounted this story to one of my bosses who mentioned that she had a family friend who manages one of the biggest boxing rings in Bangkok, Ratchadamnoen Stadium. Several weeks later, we were there at the stadium as his guests.


I can't say enough good things about our experience at the stadium. We were treated as VIPs. We were given the prime seats in the house-- the first row of the elevated level-- and then were given soda, chips, and water to enjoy during the match. Speaking of chips... the flavors they have here are just crazy. Shrimp, sweet basil, squid and hot oil, etc. I found the boxing to be much more fun to watch than I ever could have expected. Each matchup of boxers (we watched four) fights for five three minute long rounds, separated by two minute breaks. Points are awarded to each fighter based on what sort of strikes the land on their opponent. Kicks get the most points, knee jabs next, then punches. What I found so fascinating about Muay Thai was how ritualistic it is. Rhythmic music plays throughout the fighting and the boxers move along to the music as they fight. Also, each match begins with sort of a warm up dance. They walk around the ring and make these deep squats while airboxing. I really can't explain it well, but I did take a video of it which I will try to post on this blog. Each match starts fairly low energy. As the rounds pass, the fighting gets more and more intense and the crowd gets more and more enthused. The best rounds are the fourth and fifth when the entire crowd is cheering along with each jab. The energy in the stadium is palpable. The most excited, obviously, are the crowds of gamblers sitting up in the upper balconies. I really enjoyed watching the matches more than I expected to. The boxers usually seem completely fine (albeit with bruised egos) at the end of a match. However, the first match I saw had a K.O. which I found a bit alarming. Towards the end of the night we got more special priviledges. My coworkers were given the honor of putting flowers around the necks of the two men fighting in the main fight. Also, we got to skip ahead of the hoards of tourists waiting to get their picture taken with the champion. (Pics on flickr.)All in all it was a pretty awesome night but I'm not sure if I'll see it again while I'm here. It's really probably one of the most expensive things you can do as a white person in Thailand. Having gone once for free I'm not really sure I'd be willing to part with 2000 baht to see it again.


This week has been really busy and exhausting (but really fun!). I'm hoping next week will be a little more low-key. This week is already getting off to a good start. I got up at 5:30 today to do the Vertical Marathon at the Banyan Tree Hotel. I've done stairclimbs in Seattle before so I thought it would be fun to try one here. It went well- 61 floors in 11 minutes. The view at the top was amazing, I'm going to have to go back to their rooftop restaurant/bar sometime. Sunset would be lovely up there!

Thai schools are going on a month long vacation, so the afternoon English classes I've been teaching to Thai students will be on hiatus. I really enjoy teaching this class, they are slightly older (3ish) than the students I usually work with and very bright though quite antsy at times. They also all jump on me with hugs at the end of the day, which makes it more than worthwhile. It'll be nice to have some extra time in the afternoon to prepare for my own class-- which is going really smoothly. One of the strangest things right now is that it is now October and it is still 90 degrees outside every day. I associate back to school with cool weather. Not the case here.