Teacher Getting Hit By Culture

Sunday, 1 March 2015

Christmas Break Part 2: Northern Vietnam (Sapa, Hanoi, Ha Long Bay)

So after spending the Christmas season together with several other TIS teachers and their families, we headed up north for the second leg of our trip. We used Hanoi as a sort of home base during this second leg while we took short trips out of town to places like Sapa and Ha Long Bay.

After arriving in Hanoi and dropping off some of our belongings, we took the overnight train up into the mountainous northern edge of Vietnam. Sapa is known for a very scenic view of the rugged northern Vietnamese landscape and is also home to a wide array of different ethnic minority groups, most notably the H'Mong and Dao people. It was definitely the coldest portion of our journey and the traversing the mountainous terrain was at times treacherous. We arrived back in the town of Sapa in a mud covered mess and didn't really have time to clean off before heading back to Hanoi on the bus.

Arriving back in the capital of Hanoi, we had a day to roam the busy streets of the Old Quarter. Here, pedestrian and road traffic was one. There was very little room on the sidewalks and often times we had to walk alongside motor vehicles and a mass of motorbikes. Crossing the roads was an experience in itself as you simply couldn't wait for a break in the traffic (there never would be one), and simply had to plod across the road and have dozens motorbikes zip around you.

Then finally, it was time to head out to one of the seven natural wonders of the world, Ha Long Bay. Ha Long Bay is an area with thousands of tiny (and some not so tiny) limestone rock islands scattered across the sea. The blend of rock, vegetation, and water was indeed a truly unique sight to behold. We booked ourselves a cozy junk cruise through the archipelago islands where we delved into massive caves, went ashore of uninhabited islands, kayaked, and visited a pearl farm. In the evening, plopped down in the middle of the bay and socialized with the rest of our boat-mates over drinks, karaoke, and a round of squid fishing.

Arriving back in Hanoi one last time from Ha Long Bay, we had one final day where we ventured to the ethnology museum to find out more about the Vietnamese people and their culture. There we learnt even more about some of the other minority groups that we didn't see up during our time in Sapa. We also managed to squeeze in a stop at Hoa Lo prison. This prison gained infamy for housing important Vietnamese revolutionary leaders during the uprising against the colonial French who occupied Vietnam prior to the second World War. The prison continue to be used during the Vietnam War, when American pilots shot down over Hanoi would be transferred to Hoa Lo.

After one final dinner, we turned back towards the airport and came home. What an incredible two weeks! It was definitely a very eye-opening and educational trip and hopefully someday, I'll get the chance to head back to sample even more wonderful Vietnamese food and visit southern Vietnam to check out Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong river delta.

Cat cat village in Sapa

Cat Cat village is one of several Black H'Mong villages around the Sapa countryside

Misty mountain air

Descending down the rice patty fields

The H'Mong women with their colourful head scarves

The youngest member of the village

A beautiful little lake in the heart of Hanoi's Old Quarters

Welcome to Hanoi, mind your step when crossing the street

An active railroad line; The road to Lao Cai in northern Vietnam

Apparently you can't bring goats into the stores in Hanoi

The Temple of Literature, the landmark insignia of Hanoi.

The final resting place of Vietnam's most revered leader, Ho Chi Minh.

The One Pillar Pagoda

Hanoi is famous for it's water puppet show

Atop Ha Long Bay. Ha Long means descendent of dragon in Vietnamese.

Junk boats litter the open waterways of the bay.

A classic photo of Ha Long Bay.

Exploring a cave.

Surprising cave. If you look carefully, you can see the "surprise"

A great day to hit the water on a kayak

Fishing village

Monkeys in their native environment

Mind your head

Can you see the bike?

Village house at the Ethnology museum in Hanoi

The eerie insides of Hoa Lo prison

French colonial architecture

Sunday, 18 January 2015

Christmas Break Part 1: Central Vietnam (Da Nang, Hue, Hoi An)

Hi All,

It's definitely been some time since this blog has seen some action. The end of 2014 has been rather busy and so I find myself playing a little bit of catch-up at the start of 2015. Probably what will end up being most interesting to you is a recap of the adventures from my Christmas break trip to Vietnam. Unlike with the other trips, the Christmas trip spanned two weeks and so we had quite a bit of time to take a more thorough look at Vietnam. We spend our first week of the break in central Vietnam, in the towns of Da Nang, Hue, and Hoi An. The adventures of the second week will be covered in a separate entry coming soon!

After arriving in Da Nang, we poked around a bit in the city, by walking through the downtown area. Da Nang provided a very authentic Vietnam experience and aren't as touristy as other cities in the country despite being the third largest city in Vietnam.

From Da Nang, we then took the train up the coast to the historically-rich town of Hue. Hue had a vibrant riverfront area, that served as a busy night-time marketplace after sundown. Most prominently featured in Hue is the Imperial City, home of the emperors of Vietnam spanning from the late 19th century until the end of the Second World War.

Our trip really took a remarkable turn at the end of our time in Hue, as we had decided to take a motorbike tour from Hue all the way down south to Hoi An through the Ho Chi Minh trail inland through the mountainous interior of Vietnam. Over the span of two days, we skirted through countless villages and a breath-taking views of the mountainous landscape. We had a taste of rural life in Vietnam and had several unique encounters with the locals that we met along the way. Just prior to arriving in Hoi An, we took a stop an abandoned military barracks on a lonely mountaintop and swung by the Marble Mountains outside of Da Nang to take a look at an amazing set of limestone caves with an equally impressive Buddhist temples housed throughout the monolithic mountain-side.

Arriving in the old town quarters of Hoi An from the motorbikes, we spent a few more days relaxing in the tourist filled beach town. While it wasn't the most ideal beach weather, we spend our time there exploring the old town, which was stunning especially at night time with lanterns that would float on the water and where parts of the old town quarters would be cut off due to the rising tide during the night. Our first day, we decided to have a change of pace and joined in with a cooking class. We were taken to the market to buy the ingredients before sampling some unique and sometimes bizarre dishes (ie. pig brain, silkworm salad...) before we threw on the aprons and cooked our own 4 course lunch. Our other full day in Hoi An was Christmas day and we just so happen to have a large amalgamation of the TIS community in Hoi An to celebrate with a Christmas lunch.

After a quick ride back up to Da Nang, we would embark on a short flight up north to the capital of Hanoi, where we would start the second leg of our Vietnam tour with stops in Hanoi, Sapa, and Ha Long Bay. Check the next entry to find out more about what we experienced there.