Playing Frogger In The Streets of Vietnam

North Vietnam is a dangerous place. The second we stepped off our overnight train from Hoi An, we were almost hit by people on motorbikes, and that continued over our 4 day stay in Hanoi. We walked everywhere in Hanoi. Literally mile after mile, sightseeing, searching for a supermarket, hitting up microbreweries, etc. All that time crossing the streets gave the Vietnamese plenty of opportunity to take a go at us on their bikes. I think our final count of how many times we have been hit by some part of a motorbike is 8. You are a moving target and they will go out of their way to run you over. Chad is the leader, and I follow behind, clutching his hand with my eyes closed. Besides that, we found Hanoi to be a pleasant place. We had originally planned to stay for 2 days, then take a cruise out on Halong Bay before heading north to Sapa. Two days turned into four as the company we chose to cruise with did not have an opening until then. We were able to catch a few sights during the 4 days. Besides our unsuccessful visit to see Ho Chi Minh we took in the museum that holds what remains of the "Hanoi Hilton", the infamous prison where American pilots that were captured during the war were held (John McCain’s flight suit is on display there). The Vietnamese put a good face on it all, showing the prisoners in happy situations including feeding chickens, playing volleyball and basketball, cooking Christmas dinner, painting, sending and receiving packages, etc. It sure looked like the POW's enjoyed their time there!


One funny bit about Vietnamese currency. They quote everything in US dollar then require you to pay in Dong (local currency) while giving you a horrible exchange rate in order to make a few extra bucks in the sale. We tried to dodge the system by changing dong for dollar at the bank, but the multiple banks we went to told us the government does not allow them to sell US dollars. Odd given that they list the rate you could buy it at IF they sold it. After hours of looking for a place to buy US dollars we ended up in a shady gold and silver jewelry shop that you would find in the backstreets of any major US city. They gave us a crap exchange rate as well, but we needed dollars for border crossings so you have to take what you can get.

We then headed out to Halong Bay for a 3 day, 2 night cruise aboard a junk boat with 12 other people. After our reasonably priced Indian adventure on our own ship, Halong seemed pretty expensive but we had heard from multiple people that you get what you pay for so we went a little over budget to go with a trusted company. Halong Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and we spent the 3 days cruising around the multiple islands with 2 stops to view massive caves and a few stops on islands. The other travelers on our boat were great, and we enjoyed hanging out with others for a few days. Unfortunately the weather didn't really cooperate and we never saw sun but that did not take away from the beauty of the area. The area prides itself on seafood, and the cook felt it was necessary to include me, attempting to feed me "fake" meat and seafood for all meals, an interesting idea but I never tried any of it.

Our days on the boat ended just in time to catch an overnight train to the mountain town of Sapa in Northern Vietnam. This area of the country is where many different hill tribes live and is famous for trekking. The town is completely different than any other we have experienced in Vietnam, and reminds us of towns in Nepal. The local women come down from the villages everyday in traditional outfits carrying their babies on their backs while selling hand woven handicrafts to the tourists. It is a sight to see. We arrived here planning to spend 3 nights with most of the time spent trekking but the weather has not cooperated and we have been rained on constantly. We were able to take a small trek today in the rain to a local village and waterfall which resulted in one of my most spectacular falls of the trip(trust me, there have been many). That cut the trek a bit short and after all of this rain we decided it was time to head to Laos. Tomorrow we leave on a early bus to begin the trek to a little used Laos border crossing that opened in 2007. We thought it was time to get off the beaten track again, we hope we are up to the challenge.