Wednesday, April 22nd – Second Day in HANOI, VIETNAM
Today was a very relaxing and enjoyable day. We took a three hour car ride to Halong Bay which is on the South China Sea. During the ride, we were able to talk more with our guide, Duong and to learn more about his family and his background. He comes from a small village where the main crop was rice and where the village owned a small number of water buffalo. He was fortunate to have been able to go to the University in the city since his parents were rice farmers living quite a poor life and not educated. At the University, he met his wife who became a teacher. Her parents were teachers in their village so they were educated. They have two children. They now hope to buy a small car since they are not allowed to travel with four people on a motorcycle – three is ok – so they are unable to go on family outings. In their small condominium, they have a tv, computer, washing machine (dryers are not common at all throughout the country), refrigerator and one air conditioner in their bedroom. Duong told us that in the hot summer months, they turn on the air conditioner about 9:00 p.m. and set a timer for the unit to go off at 4:00 a.m. On these nights, they have their children, ages 6 yrs. And 2 yrs., sleep with them as it too hot in the rest of the apartment. They pay extra for their son to go to a better more progressive school.
During the 3 hour car trip, we drove through many villages and towns and were able to get a feel for life outside the city. We were very surprised to see a lot of single family home construction. The homes are very narrow three story structures with large balconies and many of them had clothes drying there on racks. The homes are made of cement but not fancy. There is a lot of poverty here. It was amazing to see motorcyles loaded with two live pigs plus the driver of course. People carry huge amounts of things with them on their cycles. Most of the time, we see at least two if not three people on a cycle. We drove by many rice paddies and we stopped to talk briefly with one old woman working in the paddy. She was scooping up water with a large ladel and pouring it out of the small canal over to the rice paddy to keep it wet. Duong had asked us to bring any toiletry items from the hotel with us because he tried to give these to people out in the country. We left a toothbrush, toothpaste, razor, shampoo and conditioner, come, cotton balls with her. She was quite pleased with these small gifts..
Then we arrived at Halong Bay and once again, the pier was empty of tourists.
We boarded a boat that could hold up to 40 passengers, but it was only the two of us plus our guide. The bay is very beautiful and is surrounded by many rock formations that look like mini mountains. There were 500 boats in the harbour but just about 50 out on the water, some with tourists groups, but none of them looked full. On board, we had a very wonderful seafood lunch with the freshest local shrimp, clams, crab, spinach and of course, Vietnam beer. We then docked and walked up to a very large cave which was fascinating. Duong said that the week before, the cave was crowded with hundreds of tourists and today, it was basically the three of us. We are benefitting by being here in the off season but tourism is also just down globally given the current economic world situation.
The three hour ride back afforded both Lenny and Duong with a good siesta; fortunately, the driver kept his eye on the road. Driving here is no easy task given all of the motorcyles, bicycles, cars, tour busses, trucks, cows on the side of the road, etc. Once back in town, we decided to return to last night's very safe and very delicious restaurant to try a few different things: a bowl of pho (Vieitnamese noodle soup), sweet potato cake with shrimp, garlic rice with tofu. Lenny tried a traditional fruit concoction for desert; I tasted it but didn't like it. The restaurant seats everyone family style at long tables. When we first sat down there was a group of four young Chinese businessmen and they introduced themselves immediately and we conversed with them doing fairly well with their broken English and our hand gestures. When they left, a young couple sat down – one from the US and one from England – both in Vietnam for two years, teaching English. We had a great conversation with them too. The cost of the dinner was 156,000 and with a tip that they do not expext we spent $10. for a very good meal. The taxi ride to the hotel was 80 cents and with a tip I spent $1.10. The big spender that I am.
Now it is time to pack as we leave for Hue early tomorrow morning.
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