Ok, well today was relatively calm. The highlight of my day was a visit to the Hoa Lo Prison, which as I mentioned yesterday, was what US POW’s nicknamed the “Hanoi Hilton.” The prison was originally built by the French in the late 19th Century, and the bulk of the displays related to the French treatment of Vietnamese revolutionaries between then and 1954. There was also a small section (that was of course crowded with American tourists) about its involvement up until 1973, in housing US POW’s.

I should note that only a small section of the prison still exists, as most of it was demolished to make way for a high-rise building. The remaining rooms detailed exhibits about the construction of the prison, the French orders for the treatment of prisoners, means showing how some of the revolutionaries managed to escape, and other things.

There were many aspects of the prison turned museum that were really creepy. In many of the cells they had lifelike manikins that at times in the dark looked a bit too realistic if you ask me. You first saw them in a room where their ankles were cuffed in rows. You could also enter the so called dungeon section, which had solitary cells, as opposed to group cells elsewhere.

One of the most fascinating, and at the same time disturbing and creepy areas was the torture room and the death cells. The death cells seemed to served a similar purposes to solitary cells for death row prisoners we have today. In the torture rooms there was a large guillotine, which the French put to good use with the revolutionaries. The room also contained elements for torture, like an oil drum sort of thing which they trapped people in and then added water. Similarly was an object which people would stand on to have their arms tied up to the ceiling, before the object would be pushed out, leaving them dangling there. One of the worst sights was a picture of a French warning to other revolutionaries…they put the decapitated heads of the executed on public displays.

By a stark contrast, the two rooms showing about the US POW’s made the situation look incredibly positive. There was a poster showing every day prison life which made it sound like a great place to be…almost like summer camp. Now, one must take into account the propaganda…of course they’re not going to say they mistreated US POW’s…if it were the other way around, the US would be (and is) the same way.

Well known POW’s housed there included Pete Peterson, who would eventually become the first US Ambassador to Vietnam in the late 1990′s. Also, the prison apparently housed John McCain. His flight suit and parachute were on display, as was his mug shot, along with those of several other notable US POW’s, all of which they make very clear where returned home in accordance the Geneva treaty ending the war.

That was pretty much the highlight of my day. Just thought I’d mention two interesting cultural aspects here. I’m sure you’ve all seen pictures of women carrying these things over their shoulder with two baskets hanging down off a piece of wood. You see them everywhere here, most of whom are wearing those famous conical hats. They transport just about everything, including of selling things, especially fruit, and transporting garbage. I’ve even seen a few that carry a full kitchen on them! I saw one last night that had a boiling pot on one side and all the ingredients on the other! She was in the process of cutting them up! Also, you see many bicycle vendors, some of which have a whole convenience store on them!

Also, you see many women here (and only women) covering much of their face with a mask over their nose and mouth or sometimes a handkerchief. In an interesting twist, while we see beauty as darker skin, people here (and all over SE Asia) see beauty as lighter skin. Apparently make-up in Thailand all consists of whitening cream!

On the subject of women, I witnessed something on the bus to Ha Long City that was a stark reminder that this is not an egalitarian society. Our mini bus was packed with no empty seats. A man got on and they forced (literally by grabbing) a woman to give up her seat to him and sit on an ice cooler instead.

Right, well I should wrap this up, as I need to be getting to the airport. Farwell Vietnam…it has been fun. Someday, I will definitely return! Check back tomorrow for news when I get back to Hua Hin.

Original Content: Wrapping up with POW’s–Last day in Vietnam! from Aaron's Worldwide Adventures - Unlikely Places. Ultimate Experiences.. All rights reserved.

Well, this is it….my last night in Vietnam. The title for this entry is the title of a song from the musical Miss Saigon which is sung the night before Saigon fell, or as they say here, was liberated. The world isn’t ending, but my trip to Vietnam is! Aside from losing my camera, this has been a fantastic trip. Despite the fact that it was short, I’m glad that I came. This was merely a taste to further wet my appetite for another future visit. And rest assured, this isn’t my last blog posting either. I’ll probably write from Vietnam again tomorrow, as my flight to Bangkok doesn’t leave until 9pm, so I still have all of tomorrow here as well. I’ll also post about my day in Bangkok when I get home Sunday evening and then there will, of course, be more adventures! I’m only half-way through my grand Southeast Asian adventure!

Anyways, after writing yesterday I walked around Halong City for a bit to look around and eat. As I said yesterday, it’s a tacky little tourist place (kind of reminiscent of Las Vegas in a way). I can’t tell you how many offers for massages I got, all of which were followed by emphasizing that they would come from pretty women, which is a metaphor for prostitution…an aspect that comes with tourism, and something there is a lot of in Halong City.

Being by the sea, there is a great wealth of seafood available there as well. Nearly every restaurant has tanks out front containing crabs, of course, and also fish and prawns, for diners to pick their meals (ensured freshness). I did indulge myself to some fish, though I didn’t choose it (I’m not a fan of meeting my dinner). It was wonderful, and like all seafood served in Halong City, it came whole. Head, tail fins, the whole thing. Throughout my entire meal, the fish was staring at me, which was kind of creepy! It was quite tasty though!

This morning I set out on my tour of the UNSECO World Heritage Site known as Ha Long Bay (that’s how it’s written in Vietnamese, well except the word Bay. Many names we know in English have spaces in them when written here, like Ha Noi and Viet Nam). The money I spent paid off, as there were only 6 people on my boat, all Vietnamese, so we had plenty of space to relax and spread out. The wharf, where we set off from, also had hundreds of red wooden boats docked, many of which went out and dotted the landscape as we moved along.

From the distance, Ha Long Bay looks like a mountain range in the middle of the Gulf of Tonkin. It was beautiful approaching it (and of course while we were in it) because the islands were so close together that they were all you could see as far as the eye could see. The name Ha Long is Vietnamese for something like “where the dragon descends to the sea” and legend has it that the Bay was created when a dragon descended, thrashing it’s tail through the land. It’s path filled up with water and the remaining protruding limestone rocks were all that remained of the main land. Now, whether that’s true or not is up for interpretation, but it really is a striking sight.

We stopped at two of the islands. The first had a magnificent and large cave inside, that was brilliantly illuminated, giving the rock formations a striking look. A winding path led through the interior, which was really neat. It even had an oddly lit rock that Lonely Planet best described as a “penis rock,” which was a bit odd, and lit in red, so it stood out even more (you get the idea).

After a while we piled back onto our “junk” as they called it (the boat) and headed to another nearby island with a beach. Instead of opting for swimming, I took a hike high up to the very top of the rock formation (which was quite a hike) to this vantage point that offered great views of the bay. Seriously, there’s at least 3,000 tiny little islands spanning as far as they eye can see! I can’t even begin to describe how cool it looks! Anyways, after the beach island, and lunch (that included mini-crabs that were also staring at me).

Yesterday I’d mentioned that I’d been told that the water was polluted, which it was around civilization. Once in the World Heritage Zone it looked fine, and aside from the tourist aspect (which I’m not a fan of), it was very nice. Would I go again? I don’t think I’d go out of my way to see it. It was very nice though and I would recommend it. One neat thing about sea life was a number of floating villages that we passed, and my personal favorite, floating convenience stores!

Anyways, afterwards I caught the bus back to Hanoi (around 2:45pm) which took a good 4 hours, getting me here at nearly 7pm. I caught a taxi from the bus station, and I have a feeling that his meter may have been rigged, as it was moving rather quickly, and it cost me more than it took me to get to the same bus station yesterday (God, was it really just yesterday?) I stopped him when I was within walking distance from where I wanted to go and walked to the place I stayed when I was here initially.

After checking in, I decided to head to dinner to have my new favorite meal, Pho. Remember, that rice noodle soup I was raving about. It’s the breakfast, and just about every other meal, of champions! As I was walking over there, I had a little accident. The sidewalk here is commonly used for parking motorbikes, at times making it impossible to walk on the sidewalk. So I was walking on the edge of the road, a little too close to the edge, literally. The area where the sidewalk meets the road is slightly slanted down (the area where water drains) which I didn’t realize, and next thing I knew I had slipped and one of my legs had fallen into a sewage drain (where the water flows into the sewer). I pulled my leg out and my foot and leg were covered in some slimy sewage! Some very nice Vietnamese people helped me up and even cleaned off my shoe and pants for me too.

After dinner I returned to the train station to ask if anyone had found my camera or turned it in. This time there were very helpful there (as they were currently boarding a train), but the response was not positive…nobody had seen it. So my camera is long gone…RIP…you’ve served me well. In my time in Bangkok on Sunday I will be looking for a new camera.

On the way back I had probably the most frightening car ride of my life. I rode a Xe Om (motorbike taxi) back to the Old Quarter, and the worst possible thing, heavy traffic, happened. Of course all the drivers are trying to find shortcuts around the traffic, which means you can forget about lanes…my leg was touching the leg of the person on the bike next to me. And of course he took any opportunity to move, even running a red light straight into oncoming traffic! After I had nearly died many times over, he turns the wrong way down a one way street. And that, is when I got off!

By the way, remember when I mentioned that the Vietnamese eat some rather strange things, like Dog, Cat, and Cock’s Testicle? Well here’s a good one. There’s this snake farm near Hanoi where you can go and they bring out a live venomous snake. Then before your eyes, they cut it’s head off, rip out it’s still beating heart, and feed it to you with a cup of the snakes blood, and so I’ve heard, venom, to wash it down. Supposedly the whole thing increases your potency! Afterwards they cook the snake meat a variety of ways. I’m not planning on doing that one.

On my agenda for tomorrow is a visit to the Hoa Long Prison (I haven’t got a clue if I spelled that right) which the U.S. POW’s nicknamed the “Hanoi Hilton” during the American War, as they call it here. Ironically, there really is a Hilton hotel in Hanoi now. Similarly, on the subject of the war, the bridge over the Red River that we crossed by rail to get to Sapa was repeatedly bombed by the U.S., as it used to be the sole means into Hanoi from the north and east, and the sole entry point by rail, to Hanoi. According to Lonely Planet the Vietnamese put U.S. POW’s to work rebuilding the bridge and the U.S., fearing for their safety, stopped the bombings.

Right, well I should continue my last night here by going to bed! I’m quite tired as I had an early morning today. So sad that this trip is ending, but alas, all good things must come to an end. There will be many more adventures though!

Original Content: "The Last Night of the World" (well Vietnam that is) from Aaron's Worldwide Adventures - Unlikely Places. Ultimate Experiences.. All rights reserved.

I suppose you’re wondering what that loss is…my camera! My wonderful camera that has the photo record of my entire trip! Gone! I believe I accidentally left it on the train last night and one of the cleaning people or someone probably picked it up. It made this morning quite hectic. But let me start from last night….

After I posted a blog yesterday I did end up getting a haircut, and its quite snazzy looking if I do say so myself. Pretty short, with a little bit of length on the top. It’s great because I really don’t have to do anything to it! It was also one of the cheapest haircuts of my life…50,000 dong….right around US$3.

After the haircut, the barber, who spoke pretty broken English, asked me if I wanted an ear cleaning, and curiosity led me to taking up the offer. It was an incredibly bizarre and rather unpleasant experience. The barbed donned a head lamp, which made him look as if he was entering a cave. He stuck many a tool into my ear canal, which was quite a strange sensation. The whole point of the procedure was for him to pull out clumps of ear wax, which was pretty disgusting. The procedure ended with some light drumming around my ear. I must say though, I think my hearing is a bit better now, though that may just be wishful thinking.

At 6:30pm I caught the van back to Lao Cai to catch the train (which left at 9:15pm). They packed that van to the brim! Children were sitting on laps as there were not enough seats, and they were cramming as many people as possible into the back seat. And there was luggage everywhere. In case of an emergency, none of us would have been able to get out! On top of the large pile of luggage in the aisle, they stacked some boxes of cakes they were transporting! They kept trying to get people to sit on the luggage to fit more people in, but nobody would. After 30 minutes of packing the van, we finally left Sapa.

When we arrived in Lao Cai they dropped us off at this restaurant across from the train station, which wasn’t open yet (it was 7:45pm and the first train to Hanoi left at 8:30pm). I hung out at the restaurant and chatted with this Dutch couple and Spanish couple for a bit, before boarding my train, which left 45 minutes after the first train to Hanoi.

This train was not nearly as nice as the one we had on the way up to Lao Cai. The beds were harder, it was older, there was less storage space, the a/c sucked, and there were no individual lamps. While our first train had western-style toilets, this one had squat toilets built in! In my compartment were three westerners this time. There was a French guy, a French woman, and a Spanish guy, all of whom were traveling together. They were very friendly, and we talked a lot about Laos and Thailand, as they were planning on going there later on their trip.

Again I had an enormous amount of trouble sleeping. I still don’t know what it was…perhaps the noise. In the morning I noticed that my compartment-mates had used earplugs, which would have been a wise idea. Oh well…next time.

It was quite early when we arrived (5:15am), so I took a motorbike to the Old Quarter to hang out for a bit and get some breakfast before catching a bus to Halong City. Around the lake there were probably hundreds of Vietnamese doing synchronized yoga of a sorts, right at the crack of dawn! It was a really cool sight, and I reached into my bag to get my camera out and that is when the morning turned quite frantic!

I should note that I always carry my camera on me, but since I was sleeping in my pants, I took it out and put it into my bag. So there I was, standing in the middle of a park, surrounded by hundreds of Vietnamese doing yoga and frantically unpacking my whole day pack looking for my camera, and it wasn’t there! I thought back to the train ride…after I put it in, I had shuffled things around in my bag a bit, to put my journal back in, I recall touching the camera, but not taking it out. Perhaps it slipped into my bedspread without my knowledge. I’m sure none of my compartment-mates would have taken it, as they were really nice and getting to my bag would have required walking on me.

Anyways, I decided I needed to make it back to the train station, and I also needed to find a bathroom badly. I was walking through the park with my big giant (and heavy) backpack and my day pack (which I unpacked looking for my camera several times more), and sweating up a storm. I finally found a bathroom, but it was too small to fit into with my backpack (heck I could barely fit in without it). A very nice westerner from California offered to watch my bag for me while I was in the bathroom, which she did. I explained my situation to her, and she offered to watch my big bag while I went back to the train station. She looked trustworthy and there wasn’t anything of enormous value in my bag (not to mention that it was so heavy, someone would have to be really desperate to steal it) so I left it with her and hopped on a Xe Om back to the train station

Hanoi has two train stations, which are right next to each other. There’s the “A” station, which is the primary one and serves all southern routes, and the “B” station, which serves all northern routes. They are next to each other, but on opposite sides of the track, so it is a substantial walk in between them.

Anyways I arrived at the “B” station and there was nobody there at all (it was now around 6:30am). I walked into the train yard and there was nobody who spoke any English. The train was still there, but of course it was locked, and everyone thought I wanted to buy a ticket. So I went to the “A” station, where I knew people did speak English, and the information person there directed me back to the “B” station, saying that now there were people there (it was now 7am, and the “A” station had just opened). So I walked back to the “B” station, and there were some people there, but they didn’t speak any English and did not want to help me at all!

I found a helpful Vietnamese guy who spoke English and he walked with me into the train yard and had them let me on the train to look for it (it was now about 7:45am). The cleaning crew had already been through, so the beds had been stripped, and there was nothing there. No camera. The guy asked the cleaning people currently in there if they’d seen it, and they said no. Someone called the conductor to ask him if he’d seen it, and he apparently said no. Now there is the possibility that somewhere along this line, someone was lying to me, either the translator or the conductor and cleaning ladies. Or its possible a passenger picked it up. The other people in my compartment have no means of contacting me in case they found it. It’s possible they turned it in, as there were people collecting our tickets as we exited, though they were long gone. I’ll check back at the station on Saturday when I return to Hanoi to see if anyone found it, though I have a feeling it’s a lost cause.

I think what gets me feeling even worse than loosing the camera itself, was loosing the memory card in it, that had all my wonderful photos from Vietnam on it. Ah well. At least I’ll have my memories (and my blog).

Anyways, I returned to the park and low and behold, the woman was still there, as was my bag. I had some breakfast and chatted with her and her friend she met on the train from Europe (I forget the country). She came back on the same train I did. After breakfast we parted paths and I set out for the bus station to get to Halong City.

The bus to Halong City was in fact a crammed mini-bus that, of course, stopped quite frequently to pick up passengers or goods along the way, which made the trip longer than I had anticipated. We left Hanoi at 9:45 or so in the morning and didn’t get to Halong City till nearly 2pm! On the bus I met a couple of Australians who were doing the same thing I was doing, and a very helpful and interesting guy from New Zealand who lives in Halong City working for an environmental agency, which they really need, as the water in the bay is quite polluted!

He was explaining that Halong City (and the bay) sits on an enormous amount of coal, and it is a huge industry here, which obviously adds to the pollution. He was also noting that designating a natural site as a World Heritage Site in a third world country (which Halong Bay is) is the kiss of death, because tourists flock to it, and with tourists come development, which in turns ruins the environment. When we arrived we immediately saw that there was all sorts of trash floating in the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin. Not so nice.

By the time we arrived, the Aussies and I decided that it was too late to spend any time on the bay as we were only a few hours from sunset. So my plans again changed. I’m staying here tonight, taking a tour of the bay tomorrow, and then going back to Hanoi tomorrow evening. No Cat Ba island, which is just as well, because I heard a lot of negative reviews of it from fellow travelers.

Anyways, I checked into a hotel (rooms here are more expensive…mine costs US$10) and I immediately got a shower and a fresh pair of clothes on, as I’d been wearing the other set since yesterday! Halong City is nothing special. It’s strictly a tourist town, so it’s really not interesting at all. Although there are other ways to see the bay, I decided to book a tour of the bay for tomorrow for US$23. It’s a very small group though…7 maximum, which is nice. It would have been far cheaper if I went with 50 other people or so, but that’s highly advised against. I’ll have a 6 hour cruise on the bay, visiting some of the notable caves, before returning here and then returning to Hanoi.

In case anyone doesn’t know what Halong Bay is, it’s a series (and by series I mean thousands) of little islands and rock formations in the Gulf of Tonkin. Although polluted, it’s supposed to be cool, though the guy from New Zealand was explaining how it’s getting progressively worse, and that visitors who have been before and returned, do not like what they see. So I might as well see it before it gets totally ruined!

Okay, well this is certainly long enough! I’ve only got 2 more days in Vietnam and now I’m camera-less. Well sort of. I bought a disposable camera here to take pictures of the bay. I’ll get them online somehow….eventually. The loss of my camera is a tragedy, but hence, life must go on!

Original Content: Mourning a loss, though I keep on going from Aaron's Worldwide Adventures - Unlikely Places. Ultimate Experiences.. All rights reserved.

For my last day in Sapa I decided to take it easy and relax in this relatively peaceful mountain village before returning to the chaos of Hanoi tomorrow, though I’ll just be there very briefly. The other part of the reason for taking it easy is that I haven’t been feeling too good. My calves are aching and walking isn’t the easiest thing in the world at the moment. It started I believe the night I was on the train…I left my compression stockings (as well as all my clothes) on and since then it’s been getting progressively worse. My stomach has also been feeling a bit iffy today as well. So between the trouble walking and the stomach I felt it’d be better if I don’t strain myself to trek to any villages or anything today. I’m sure all the walking I did yesterday probably didn’t help much either.

Anyways, after my post last night I had dinner and then wandered around town, casually glancing at the merchandise that the various hill-tribe people were selling, as I particularly wanted to buy a shirt, as the ones they make are quite beautiful. Along the way I worked up this great conversation with a H’mong woman, who was really friendly and spoke very good English. We talked for a while and she told me about her family (I believe she said she had 6 kids, the oldest being 18. She was 42 and already a grandmother!) which was pretty large, as many of the hill-tribes have large families…more labor force. She also told me about her life a bit…her village was about a 2 hour walk from Sapa and she usually spends 4-5 days there per week and the rest of the time in Sapa, where she stays while she’s here to sell her goods. When she’s in the village she usually works in the rice fields. She was really nice and gave me a bracelet as a token of friendship. She didn’t have the shirt size that I needed but promised she’d have some larger sizes tomorrow (today).

I started walking and ran into her again! Her name, by the way, was Korea and this time she was with some friends who also spoke great English…another woman named Jo (the j is long) and a girl named Zao who was 17. Korea extended an incredible invitation to me to accompany her to her village today and spend the night at her house! Unfortunately, my ticket back to Hanoi is for tonight and I can’t really afford to spend any more time here! I told her that next time I came to Sapa I would definitely look her up and take her up on the offer! While I was talking to them they also taught me a few H’mong words (they have their own language), such as hello, thank you, how are you, and the ever useful I won’t buy. If that doesn’t work to get the vendors away, they also taught me how to say I don’t have any money!

I set off again, this time to the market and picked up a nice set of chopsticks, as well as holders for them, chopstick rests, and a nice box to hold all the stuff. In the market, I ran into Korea and her friends again! Her friend Jo introduced me to her daughter who is a local trekking guide who was having drinks in the market with her Vietnamese boyfriend and four people from the Czech Republic. They invited me to join them, and I did. We drank Bia Hoi, which is apparently quite the thing in Vietnam…it’s freshly brewed beer and is quite cheap as well. We also tried Apple Wine, a Sapa specialty which was quite good, and bamboo sticky rice…sticky rice wrapped in rice paper and cooked inside bamboo…also quite good, and also, I believe, a Sapa specialty. After all the drinks were empty we parted paths and I headed to bed.

This morning I had the joy of waking up to rain and enjoying a cold shower, as for some reason the hot water wasn’t working. I then set out to find Korea in the market, and I ran into Zao, but Korea wasn’t there. I had breakfast and returned to my hotel to have breakfast, pick-up my laundry, re-pack, and check out of my room. After I returned to the market and finally found Korea. I did buy a beautiful shirt from her for US$7, a nice belt from her friend Jo for US$4, and a pretty bag from Zao for US$5. They insisted on giving me loads of little bracelets to give to everyone I know, and even gave me this nice metal bracelet as well. I also bought this nifty little musical instrument from them which consists of something similar to a hair clip that you put between your lips and pluck the end to make music.

And that was the highlight of today. It really has been this incredibly low key day. I had lunch, at least what I could stomach, and walked a bit, but decided it was more important to take it easy and not strain myself. I’ve got a few hours to kill before the van ride back to Lao Cai. I will hopefully have time to have a peak across the river into China, as the last van leaves here at 6:30pm and the train leaves after 9pm. I’m also considering taking a slightly earlier van as well. I’m considering maybe getting a haircut before heading to Lao Cai. We’ll see.

In the next 24 hours I will hopefully be covering a lot of ground. I’m back on the train tonight and after a few hours in Hanoi in the morning, I’ll be heading by bus to Halong City, and then by boat to Cat Ba island, where I’m hoping to find internet access. My Czech friends last night recommended a different island, though that won’t work for me as the boat there leaves Halong City at 8am, and I won’t be there by then.

Anyways, Sapa has been wonderful and I’m quite glad that I came. I realized while looking at the photos that the rice terraces make the landscape resemble a topographic map! The coming 24 hours should be really interesting and I will certainly post if I can find internet tomorrow night.

Original Content: A Restful Day in the Peace and Quiet–Sapa Day 3 from Aaron's Worldwide Adventures - Unlikely Places. Ultimate Experiences.. All rights reserved.

Well, I was right…there’s really nothing to do here after sunset! I mean the restaurants are open, and there are a couple of bars, but the town is mostly deserted, except for the occasionally hill-tribe member offering marijuana and opium and groups of Vietnamese playing a game similar to hackey-sack (did I spell that correctly?) that involved what appeared to be a comb (or some plastic thing) with a feather tied to it! Anyways, I made it an early night, as I did decide to join a trek for today, which meant I had to get up early…plus I wanted to buy my return train ticket…I had been thinking last night of trying to go back tonight, but it was full, so I’m still going back tomorrow night.

Anyways, my trek this morning was to visit 3 different hill-tribe villages of three different minority groups. The people in this region fall under the H’mong and Dzao ethnic groups, though within those they are further divided by slight differences, like the Red H’mong people (whose skin apparently has a slight red tint to it and wear red head scarves) and the Black H’mong people, whose skin is darker (but not black).

There were 6 people in my group, plus the guide. We set out from Sapa by foot and walked down into the valley that Sapa overlooks. It was a pretty clear day today, so we could see far into the valley, which as I mentioned yesterday, is largely covered with beautiful terraced rice patties. It is quite a steep drop-off into the valley…on the way we passed a spot where a car had driven off the side into the valley below…the driver jumped out before the fall and wasn’t killed. Apparently this is a fairly common occurrence, which I can understand given the way they drive on the road, as I saw on our van ride back to Sapa.

Original Content: Trekking into the Hills–Sapa Day 2 from Aaron's Worldwide Adventures - Unlikely Places. Ultimate Experiences.. All rights reserved.

Well I survived the sleeper train and made it to Sapa, high in what the French nicknamed the Tonkinese Alps. Sapa is really nice, and much smaller and calmer than Hanoi. You can walk everywhere, but everywhere is also quite a steep walk! Sapa was originally settled by the French in the 1920′s and apparantly it gets quite cold here in December (like below freezing). Now the weather is quite nice, a bit cooler than Hanoi, but not cool enough to warrant a jacket. Sapa is high above a valley and the views are absolutely incredible…mountains and terraced rice patties as far as the eye can see…which in actuality isn’t far at all because the clouds basically envelope the city. Still, it’s quite nice.

As for the train ride last night, I was rather surprised to see that the train car was pretty modern and quite comfortable. I had two choices for classes…hard sleeper and soft sleeper. Hard sleeper is about 1/3 of the price of soft sleeper, but I opted for soft sleeper which gives you a comfy mattress and compartment with a door that closes and individual a/c control. Hard sleeper would’ve meant sleeping on a wooden bench, with 6 to a compartment (as opposed to 4 in soft), with no individual a/c and no separation for the corridor.

Anyways, my compartment mates were these three Vietnamese guys who were friendly, but didn’t speak a word of English. It worked out fine, though I don’t think I slept at all! I may have slept for very small sections, as I recall looking at my watch at around 1:30am and again at 4:15am. We departed Hanoi last night at 9:20pm and were due to arrive in Lao Cai, on the Chinese border, at 5am, though we were a good 45 minutes late (nice to see that Amtrak is no more reliable than the Vietnamese railroad). They had an interesting method of waking people up, fist by playing low music, and eventually by flinging open the compartment doors to announce we were in Lao Cai. I’m not sure, but I think the train may have been continuing on to Kumming, China afterwards. I didn’t get a chance to see the Chinese border because it was about 3km from the train station and upon arrival the people for the vans to Sapa came on the train to guide us in that direction. What definitely got me going this morning (at 6am) was having to walk from the station to the van in the cool rain. Ah well.

The 30km van ride to Sapa took just under an hour and included some wonderful sights of the mountains. On the van, I met this Canadian family who worked in Hanoi and had the extended family visiting, so they were coming here. There were 9 of them all together, including two small children (2 & 6). Upon arrival in Sapa we decided that breakfast took precedents over finding a room (as it was 7am) so we went to this place called Baguettes and Chocolate. It’s a small cafe serving breakfasts and other meals, but their baked goods were outstanding! It was also another of those training program restaurants, like KOTO, the one I went to in Hanoi on Saturday. I joined the Canadians for breakfast, which was delicious.

After breakfast I parted with the Canadians and set off to find a room. I had a place in mind that Lonely Planet recommended, and had to avoid the hordes of people following me around trying to get me to stay at their hotels. According to the map in Lonely Planet, the place should have only been 200m from the restaurant. Well I walked, and walked, and walked and eventually made it out of town (and some ways downhill from town). I saw nothing in sight so I decided to backtrack a ways and settled on this place with a nice view and nice room for US$4 a night. I should add that all the rooms in Vietnam are slightly more than they were in Laos, but come very well equipped for the money (more so than Thai rooms). Another side note, I’m used to handing over my passport for them to write down my info when I check in, but in Vietnam they like to hold on to them for a bit as they have to report your whereabouts to the police. If I recall, it was the same way in the Ukraine as well. Anyways, after I checked in I was totally beat, so I took a nap for the rest of the morning.

I got up from my nap around 12:30pm and felt quite refreshed so I set out to explore the hilly town. I got some lunch, and I should add another side note that food in Vietnam is more expensive than Thai food! After lunch I explored the Sapa market, which is teeming with hill tribe people (that’s the main draw here, there are a bunch of nearby ethnic minority villages). The vendors here are quite ruthless…you can’t even ask how much something is or to see something without being hounded non-stop by them! I did buy a small chopsticks box though that was pretty nice. Speaking of which, they have some fancy chopsticks with mother of pearl inlayed in them here…anyone want any? What about Hmong shirts? I do have some concerns about the dye running on them…according to Lonely Planet they use natural dyes, and that can be a problem.

Other than walking around town, I’ve been taking it easy today. Tomorrow I’m thinking about joining a trek to three different villages nearby. Should be interesting. Anyways, that’s about all for now…life here is calm and relaxing, and it’s a really nice change from the frenzied pace of Hanoi. I think I’m going to take the train back on Wednesday night, and then go straight to Halong Bay for a couple of days. I decided to go solo on that. Sure a tour would be convenient, but I think it’s fun to not have the convenience and find my own way…gives me a better sense of accomplishment. Anyways the sun will be setting soon here…not sure what there is to do in the evenings. Should be interesting!

Original Content: A long, long night into the mountains–Sapa Day 1 from Aaron's Worldwide Adventures - Unlikely Places. Ultimate Experiences.. All rights reserved.

Alrighty…I started out the morning by packing and checking out of my room, before hustling on over to the Water Puppet theatre to see a performance. It was incredible!! The performance was just under 1 hour long and was comprised of maybe 15 vignettes. A traditional Vietnamese orchestra accompanied them and provided the voices. The puppets themselves were great and could do so much! The amazing part is that you never really saw any of the means by which they were operated. The water was pretty murky (on purpose) and I could occasionally see a long bamboo pole underneath attaching to the puppets, but that doesn’t explain all the various movements they could do! They could do nearly everything. Some moved their arms, others opened their mouths (and squirted water or fireworks from them), and all done by a seemingly unseen means. It was so cool! We did finally see the puppeteers at the end…they raised up the curtain in the last act to show them…they stand waist deep in the water and operate the puppets from quite a distance back. I can’t begin to emphasize what a neat experience it was!

Afterwards I killed some time by walking around the Old Quarter some more. After lunch I visited the Museum of the Vietnamese Revolution. As the name suggests, the bulk of it was about the rebellion against the French, basically tracing revolutionary activities from the start of colonialism in the 1800′s. However, it did not end with the battle at Dien Bein Phu in 1954…it continued on till 1975 and the end of the “American War.” In both sections, there were some pretty terrible images. One was an image of French punishment on revolutionaries and had a man who had been hung and had his arm chopped off and tied around his neck. Some of the other really terrible ones were atrocities committed by the American military. Images included large sections of the city bombed, including hospitals. Also there were images of cartloads of civilians and children killed in American attacks. It was rather disturbing, but interesting to see the war through their perspective…what is most certainly a more realistic view of what happened. I should add that on display was a guillotine that the French had put to good use as well.

Afterwards I headed across to the National History Museum that was pretty neat. It contained many artifacts (archeological) that traced Vietnam’s long history. There was some really nice stuff.

Anyways, the rest of the day wasn’t too eventful and now I need to head to the train station. In an hour I will be on my way to Lao Cai on the Chinese border, and then in the morning I’m off from there to Sapa.

Original Content: Hanoi–Day 3 from Aaron's Worldwide Adventures - Unlikely Places. Ultimate Experiences.. All rights reserved.

Okay, so today was my first full day in the wondrous world of Vietnam. My room doesn’t have a window, and the one downside to that is that 9am looked exactly like 9pm in the room! Ah well, it’s cheap and quiet! The alleyway I’m staying on is quite popular among Vietnamese for food and a small market, which is cool.

Anyways, I ate breakfast in the Old Quarter before wandering back over the the lake I mentioned in my last post that has this neat Chinese pagoda in the middle, which I visited. I should note that there’s a lot of Chinese influence here…go figure we’re really close to China. Anyways, the pagoda was a bit odd compared to what I’ve seen in Thailand. It didn’t really seem like a Buddhist thing at all. Instead it had statues of what I think was Confucius. It was pretty neat though.

Come to think of it, I can’t say I’ve really seen any Buddhist temples anywhere here. It’s not like in Thailand or Laos where there are Wats everywhere! Granted, Vietnam has a different school of Buddhism. Thailand and Laos are Theravada Buddhists and Vietnam has Mahayana Buddhists. It’s a bit odd not seeing Buddhist monks everywhere…a very common sight in Thailand.

Anyways after the pagoda I caught a Xe Om (motorbike) to the Temple of Literature that was several kilometers away. I’m putting my bargaining skills to work with these Xe Om drivers, who usually first ask for relatively outrageous prices, like US$1 or $2…when I’ve been paying between 5-10,000 dong (its 16,000 dong to the USD).

Right, so the Temple of Literature was built nearly 1000 years ago and later became Vietnam’s first university, teaching the teachings of Confucius, who is quite the important figure here. It was a really cool Chinese-style complex with large, beautiful courtyards. The texts that I believe the students studied by are still there, on large stone slabs (in Chinese script) that are on the backs of large stone turtles. It was really cool and peaceful.

I had lunch at this place Lonely Planet recommended which was called KOTO…it was a bit more expensive but its for a good cause, as they employ underprivileged teens, giving them training as well. And I might add that it was one of the most delicious meals I’ve ever had. I can’t say that I’ve had a single Vietnamese dish I didn’t like, which I can’t say about Thai food…Vietnamese is definitely my favorite!

After lunch I walked over to the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum Complex. Yes, much like Lenin, Uncle Ho, as he is called here, is preserved in a glass sarcophagus in this enormous stone structure that somewhat resembles a Greek temple, with this sort of neo-futuristic look to it. Unfortunately, it is currently closed while his corpse is in Russia for maintenance, but the security in the area is pretty tight. They have armed guards at the doors that do not move a muscle, plus a painted line on the street (that is closed to vehicular traffic) that marks the restricted area around it, which they are very keen on making sure you don’t cross.

Also in the complex was a large structure known as the Ho Chi Minh museum. There’s only one word I can use to describe it…bizarre…really, really bizarre. Supposedly it is a museum of Ho Chi Minh’s life, also indicating the future. But these weren’t shown through your standard exhibits. They had a few object’s from Ho’s life and copies of many letters he wrote, but the bulk of the exhibits consist of symbolic representations of things. I wasn’t really getting any of it, but about halfway through I realized that I had to think of it as a modern art exhibit! It really was kind of like that. For example, and this isn’t a joke, there was a display that was supposedly the cave where Ho hid out in for years after World War II (when the French returned to Vietnam) that was represented by what was supposedly a human brain! Dead serious…it was weird. And I can’t say I learned anything new about Ho’s life. This doesn’t come as a surprise at all, but it was kinda cool to see that (obviously) their perspective on what they call the American War (what we call the Vietnam War) wasn’t exactly positive towards the Americans, understandably so. I was totally expecting this, but it was still interesting to see.

Anyways, after the museum I wandered around the complex (at least what I could wander around) and saw One Pillar Pagoda. The name is kind of self explanatory. There’s a pool with a pillar sticking up from it, and at the top sits a Pagoda! Kind of cool. You could also see this traditional Vietnamese stilt house that Ho lived in for a while.

What I see here that I didn’t see in Laos, was a bit more idolizing the revolutionary. By that I mean the status at which the Vietnamese hold Ho Chi Minh (much like how the Soviets idolized Lenin). He is everywhere, but aside from his communist views, he did bring the Vietnamese independence from the French. But there’s also a few more communist signs here too. You do see the hammer and sickle symbol quite frequently, with Ho’s face in the image as well. There’s even a statue devoted to Lenin here.

But much like Laos, there is public enterprise, and obviously there are people of different economic backgrounds, which makes me wonder what the communist aspect actually is. As far as I can see is that the difference is only in name. That and the fact that I suppose they don’t exactly have a democratic system.

Right, so after I’d seen enough Ho Chi Minh paraphenalia, I took a Xe Om to the train station and booked myself a ticket for a train to Sapa for tomorrow evening. The train takes me to Lao Cai, right on the Chinese border and from there I can take a van to Sapa, some 30 or so km away in the mountains. It’s a sleeper train, which should be an interesting experience. We get there at 5am…may not sleep much. Hey, it’ll be an experience though, right?

After a quick stop at my guest house to relax a bit, I headed out to the Water Puppet Theatre (a Vietnamese staple) and got myself a ticket to see the show in the morning. Should be fun. For dinner I tried to Pho, which is supposedly the epitome of a Vietnamese dish…a rice noodle soup with meat and veggies…really good. Afterwards, while I was sitting in the park by the lake, some Vietnamese guy approached me wanting to practice his English. We talked for almost an hour, and the most informative thing I learned was that he only made US$60 a month! He was hoping to study in India and then return here to make more money, hopefully.

Anyways, that’s all for now. Aside from the Water Puppets, I’m gonna try for a few more museums tomorrow before my evening train ride. Hope all is well! My apologies for any spelling errors…this browser is funky and I couldn’t use spell check!

Original Content: Uncle Ho–Modern Art Style (Hanoi Day 2) from Aaron's Worldwide Adventures - Unlikely Places. Ultimate Experiences.. All rights reserved.

Again, couldn’t resist the title. That shirt is quite common here. Speaking of here, I made it to Hanoi, Vietnam! And boy oh boy this place is different! I’m kind of glad I got used to Thailand first, because it is really calm, at least compared with the utter chaos that is Hanoi! Lonely Planet wasn’t kidding when they described it as a sensory overload…there is no off-switch on the sound track to Vietnam, they said…so true!

Anyways, I began my morning in Bangkok where I did succeed in buying U.S. Dollars (which are reccomended for Vietnam as the currency isn’t worth much…16,000 dong to the dollar…that’s even weaker than the Lao kip!) which were actually fairly easy to come by, as they were not in Hua Hin. The new aiport is quite a ways from the city (almost 30km I think) and it took an hour and 350 baht to get there! There was much concern that the new airport wouldn’t be ready in time (it opened on September 28) and I gotta say that it still had that fresh paint smell becuase they were still working on it! Many signs were also computer printed signs taped on walls! It’s definitely an imporvement over the old airport though, and hopefully they’ll be fully finished soon.

My flight was fine. I flew Air Asia, which is this great budget airline. My round trip to Hanoi costs US$140; I’ve never gotten a domestic flight that cheap before in the U.S. Anyways budget airline here means they don’t give you anything, including drinks. They were available for sale though at “very reasonable prices” which meant about 3-4 times what they would have cost in a store! The one eventful moment of the flight was during our ascent we took a bit of a sudden dive that my stomach definitely felt. We made it just fine though.

Immigration was smooth and I exchanged money. It is kind of funny because I exchanged US$70 and got over 1 million dong! I decided to try my luck on the public bus into town, which at 5,000 dong was a pretty amazing deal (as Lonely Planet says, probably one of the cheapest airport runs in the world)! Upon crossing the Red River the bus had reached the end of the line.

I had a place to stay in mind and hoped a Xe Om (motorbike taxi…literally you sit behind the driver. They’ve got them in Thailand too) though I think the place he initially took me wasn’t the place I was looking for…they were full anyways so he took me somewhere else that had rooms for US$6 (that’s cheap here). It was nice so I started checking in, only to learn that if I didn’t book a tour somewhere with them, the room would have cost me US$10 per night! I didn’t want to put up with that so I hoped a Cyclo (bycicle taxi…you sit in front of the rider) to the street I’d originally wanted to stay on and, after finding many places that were full, found an available room for US$5, complete with satellite TV…no a/c but that’s fine.

A little about Hanoi and particularly Hanoi traffic. It is absolutely insane! The roads are complete and utter chaos and they make the Thais look like the best drivers in the world! Literally the traffic patterns are big accidents on the verge of happening constantly, yet miraculously they don’t. I can’t even really describe it, but I got so fascinated just watching the traffic pattern. Forget lanes, or sides of the road, or even traffic lights (though they occasionally exist). There are motorbikes, bicycles, and Cyclos flying every which way, cutting each other off everywhere or driving across the intersection while the traffic is going the other way (meaning people from all sides are moving simultaneously. It takes skill to cross the street here, and I found the only way I could really do it was to wait for a Vietnamese person to cross and then cross with them, as they seem to instinctually know how to meander across the street (slowly, very slowly). Hanoi is also loud! There’s an endless din of motorbike engines and horn honking (and I mean non-stop). Good thing I brought earplugs!

Aside from the traffic, the city has quite a charming sort of look to it. I agree with a description in Lonely Planet of it having a Parisian sort of look with an Asian sort of feel. I’m staying in the Old City, which is comprised of quaint little streets, some of which, as sad as it is to say, remind me of walking through some of the European-themed Las Vegas casinos…except I’m actually there (well not Europe, but in that sort of real architecture). It is definitely a picturesque city.

It is a bit amazing how important of a figure Ho Chi Minh is here. He’s on all the money and there are many photos of him everywhere. In Thailand I’m used to seeing little shrines with Buddhas in them, but here there are little shrines with Buddhas and figures of Ho Chi Minh in them! Tomorrow I’m planning on heading over to the complex that houses his mausoleum (as he is preserved like Lenin is, though Lonely Planet says the mausoleum is closed a few months each year, usually around now so his corpse can go to Russia for maintenance) and a bunch of government stuff and museums. Didn’t do too much today but walk around the Old Quarter a bit. I did see the pretty Hoan Kiem Lake which houses a Pagoda in the middle.

A note about Vietnamese food: I’d heard that the Vietnamese eat some rather odd things, and I did see some menu examples of that. These include pigeon, frog, turtle, snail, and the strangest thing…cock’s testicle. None of those were high on my list!

Anyways, it is so great to be back on the road again! I could happily do this full time…well, maybe some day. Anyways, I’m pretty beat so I should probably head to bed. We’ll see how effective those earplugs are. I’m glad I got a guesthouse in an alley…less noise!

Original Content: Good Morning Vietnam! from Aaron's Worldwide Adventures - Unlikely Places. Ultimate Experiences.. All rights reserved.