Come Sail Away

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Surprise! We haven't taken a trip, yet you're getting a post about a trip. My every-day-living reports must be boring by now, but don't fear; I have Vietnam up my sleeve. It's the trip we took back in February and never documented. With moving soon after, settling here, and a pinch of procrastination it's taken some time (yikes - five months!) to complete a worthy post+photos. I probably forgot some details by now but I'll dig up what I can.

We arrived in Hanoi on a Thursday evening, February 4, and checked into the Sofitel Metropole Hanoi, a historic luxury hotel built in 1901 in the French colonial style and perhaps my current favorite hotel in the world. There are two wings, the classic and the opera. The classic wing contains the original rooms and the opera wing is an addition of more modern yet equally elegant rooms. We passed through the hotel briefly for two non-consecutive nights with an excursion sandwiched between our stays in Hanoi. So to sample both tastes, we first stayed in the opera wing and upon return we stayed in the classic wing. They were both beautiful, but remaining true to my tastes, I especially enjoyed the classic room. The entire hotel had an old-world atmosphere and it felt like a true sanctuary in the center of the hyper city. I cherished the level of detail which you don't often find in more modern, built-for-efficiency hotels. It felt like something special. Elegance and charm all over. Wish we had more than two brief glimpses.

If I remember right it may have been a bit rainy when we arrived. We made a reservation at a "must try" restaurant called Bobby Chin but after some minor complications we canceled and ate nearby the hotel. My credit card company takes it upon themselves to randomly protect me at times when I try to charge something online from abroad, particularly airline tickets or travel plans, considering it high-risk activity - even after living abroad for two years. Therefore, I wasted a good bit of time before dinner trying to make an online payment to the tour company we had scheduled our next day's excursion with. Hotel staff tracked down someone from the company on a mobile phone after hours to confirm for us and we had to pay in cash once on the tour. Thanks, as always, Citibank.

Bobby Chin was a fair distance by taxi, so we nixed it. No matter, we had a fine dinner after all. We chose a place called The Press Club. When I studied the menu I was slightly disappointed at first that we hadn't managed to choose a more Vietnamese cuisine. We really enjoy Vietnamese food we've tried, mostly in Hong Kong, and this place had a more Western flavored menu, but it was a very good meal in a classy setting nonetheless. We took a short walk before returning to the hotel to have a drink at one of the hotel lounges, this one poolside.

The next morning, a van from Indochina Sails picked us and a few others up for the 3-4 hour drive to Halong Bay. Driving through Hanoi and surrounds is an adventure in itself. Controlled chaos is a gentle term. Vehicles sprawl in all directions with seemingly no road rules and converge at intersections like ants on a cookie crumb. Families of four on single motorbikes is a common site. What do you do when you have to transport two trees somewhere in Vietnam? Hitch them up on the back of the motorbike. Four six-foot porcelain vases? Why, the motorbike, of course. A cow? Motorbike. Wait - If you're picturing some sort of trailer attached to the bikes - no, no, no. Just the bike, driver, some fantastically manipulated cord and 200-400 pounds of miscellaneous items. It was a long, tedious drive sporadically eased by marveling at impossible sights on two wheels. One sight I unfortunately can't forget was a cage of kittens so tightly packed they couldn't move - and the sack on top of the cage where there were more kittens - unmoving for a different reason.

Once we arrived at the pier we had to wait for nearly an hour at a cafe/gift shop, obviously owned by the tour company. After 30 minutes of boredom, you might be more likely to purchase a can of soft shell crab flavored Pringles. Eventually a small boat conveyed us to the larger boat where we would spend our time cruising Halong Bay overnight. Ours was a traditional Chinese style teak boat. Our cabin was small but comfortable enough.

We started with a lunch of several small courses of Vietnamese specialties like fresh spring rolls. After lunch we cruised to a small island called Titop where we disembarked to climb the steps to its peak for some photo ops overlooking the bay. Halong Bay is enchantingly beautiful with its scattering of beveled limestone peaks jutting out and reflecting across the water's silvery surface. We weren't lucky enough to be accompanied by the stingy sun so the vistas were shortened by haze. But even the gray mists complimented the atmosphere.

We returned to the boat and cruised along to the next stop. Here we had a choice of either visiting a floating fishing village or kayaking. Feeling like we knew what to expect from the floating village, especially having seen one on the river in Cambodia that likely couldn't be topped for the "Wow, people live like this?" factor, we chose the kayaking. I'm glad we did. Even with the light drizzle, paddling around this stunning backdrop was so peaceful. I felt small among the peaks. It's a good moment that I'll remember. And our team kayaking skills have improved significantly - which only means that we didn't get hit in the face with branches this time (Russian River... Sonoma, CA... pre-blog travel).

After returning to the boat for some relaxation we cruised to our overnight anchor spot and had dinner. After dinner I think they started showing the film Indochine in the lounge but the sound didn't work so they stopped. Paul and I were already out on the upper deck enjoying that silence and the black sky and the light of another boat anchored in the distance. A few others were also out there but eventually we were the last ones.

Early morning activities began with Tai Chi on the deck, though we didn't participate. Our morning began by relaxing in bed next to the picture window, admiring the passing scenery as we slowly cruised. The tranquility came to an awkward end as a woman in a small boat paddled past and lingered along side our boat. She was fully stocked with seashells for sale. She caught our eyes and stared at us hopefully, as if we would throw open the window and shout, "We'll take six clam shells!" while tossing her the payment. It just wasn't her lucky day.

Our final stop was at Sung Sot Cave or Surprise Cave. After climbing the 100 steps to its entrance it was a surprise how... well, cavernous the cave was. It was vast and mesmerizing and exquisitely sculpted by time and the elements. I don't have a lot of cave experience to compare, but it was more than a worthwhile excursion. DEFINITELY different from the bat cave in Borneo. Not a cockroach or bat poop to be found. Probably why there were so many more tourists to be found.

After the cave exploration we ate breakfast back on the boat, packed and checked out. It was about a two hour cruise back to the pier so we sat on deck and soaked in the last of the mist and mountains. Then another hour in the cafe/shop. The reason this drove me insane was that the one and only thing I wanted to see in Hanoi was the Hanoi Hilton, the Vietnam War prisoner museum, and I knew we would run out of precious time which was wasted sitting around this dump. I had to give up the goal. I suppose it's possible we'll return one day? Let it go...

The van was full on the way back to Hanoi and Paul and I were the lucky ones who got to cram up front with the driver. Vietnam roads are not for the faint of heart. My front seat view kept me alert for the four hour drive which felt like six or seven. You name it and we saw it hurling past on the backs of motorbikes. The real circus only began as we wound through the streets of the city to drop off guests at their different hotels. I don't know how to describe the pace and the action of people and vehicles moving in every direction. I could only believe it by witnessing it. It was the one advantage of being stuck in the van. Normally I like to explore a city on foot, but if we had been walking those gritty, buzzing and whirling streets I would have quickly run screaming back to the hotel. Behind the relative protection of the windshield we got a good look at the frenzy that is modern Hanoi.

We did of course get back in the late afternoon, too late to catch the Hanoi Hilton. We instead made a reservation through the concierge for a water puppet theater performance at the theater a few blocks from the hotel. We headed out early and took a slow walk there along the river. I am still recovering from my anxiety of crossing the six lane street without any traffic signals. It was definitely reminiscent of Frogger. The general advice is to keep a steady pace with no sudden darting or stopping and the traffic will allow for your steady movement. In other words, just go. Easier said than done. The smaller streets are no picnic either as motorbikes zip past, inches from your feet. You may also be assailed by people selling stuff, as usual. We made it to the show alive... I guess the Metropole gets the best water puppet theater tickets because we sat front row center. It was totally touristy but fun to watch. It hardly lasted an hour which was the perfect amount of time to watch puppets.

We hit the streets again and walked around the "old section." The colonial architecture was something I really enjoyed. Some buildings showed their age while some were well preserved. Most were quite colorful. Life seems to be lived out on the streets. You can witness modern Vietnam mixed with steadfast tradition, comfortable cafes among ancient food stalls, faded and cracked facades next to brightly painted colonial architectural jewels, hawkers enthusiastically trying to get your attention as well as impenetrable faces staring silently, and I believe somewhat defiantly, back at you. Throw some ever-present communist flags into the apparently capitalist mix... Hanoi: a thriving and struggling composite in full color, full stereo frenzy. It's a peculiar and compelling fusion. I did appreciate the city's personality; I just think I could only handle it in small doses.

We had dinner on the small 2nd floor terrace of a casual restaurant called Bar-Club 69. We chatted with our neighbors, a Swiss (I think) father and daughter. She was a flight attendant celebrating her birthday by meeting up with her father in Hanoi. He suggested the location because when he had last been there 15 years ago, he thought it "quiet" compared to Saigon, so he was quite surprised to see how much Hanoi has changed.

Fed and content, we didn't make much of an attempt to find nightlife. It just seemed like it would be an exhausting and sweaty endeavor, so we walked back to the hotel and sat at the poolside lounge again. In the morning we took a last walk around outside. It pained me to bid farewell to our lovely room after such a short stay, but I was slightly comforted by the sandwiches we had made for the road from the hotel bakery. There's a legacy of great French bread in Hanoi. Not to mention that they buttered the bread - of my tomato and cheese sandwich. Butter and cheese. Mmm.

We ate the sandwiches on the drive to the airport. I'm glad it wasn't a chicken sandwich. One of our last memorable sights... Paul noticed something out his window and eagerly nudged me. I looked up and there was a cardboard box on the back of a motorbike. The box had two holes cut out, and poking out of each hole was the small face of a chicken, all eyes and beaks, both staring at us just inches from the window. They just cracked me up, even if they were heading for a dinner plate.

So that was our trip to Vietnam. It was an interesting enough place that I would like to return to and explore further if we had the time. I didn't even get any pho (simply delicious noodle soup), though Paul had some on the boat. I would go to Hanoi again just to stay at the Metropole, and beautiful Halong Bay was worth the nerve-rattling van ride.

What can I say? My memory did a respectable job after five months rest.

And my favorite moments shared with the one I love:

-Ha-long till we're there?

-I don't know. Stop Hanoi-ng me.

Finger an inch from the other's arm - I'm not tai-chi-ing you. I'm not tai-chi-ing you. I'm not tai-chi-ing you. 

-Now you're really Hanoi-ng!