Days 109-110 Saturday-Sunday February 27-28 Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

Oops, forgot to post the entry from our time in Ha Long Bay before showing the video, so here's a little catch up...


Sadly, we had to check out of our heavenly room on the club floor of the Sofitel Metropol in Hanoi.  Yet as the entire time has been with my parents, we were okay with that because we knew there were more luxurious accommodations waiting for us in Ha Long Bay.  After a 4 hour drive, we came upon the coast filled with limestone karst formations jutting out of the ground, similar to what we saw in Yangshuo and the northern Vietnamese coast, but this time, the hills thwarted out of the water, not the ground.  This area is known as one of the most beautiful landscapes in all of Asia, and it didn't disappoint us.

We boarded our boat, the Ha Long Jasmine, and were escorted to our private suites which Anna Marie said were the only two on the boat.  Whether that's true or not, it was amazing to stay in such an incredible room on such a small boat.  Too bad we were only going to be on the boat for one night.

After the captain welcomed us and explained all of the obligatory safety procedures, Tony, Tania, and I jumped on a mini boat which took us to the Hang Sung Sot caves.  After a 10 minute hike which paled in comparison to our climb to the Phong Nha caves, we entered a huge system of wide open caves which were lit with neon lights, just like we had seen in other caves across Vietnam.  I slid my body through a "short cut" (aka a tight opening off the beaten path that no one is stupid enough to try and get through), Tony took-in life-like formations amongst the stalactites/mites (one rock looked just like a giant tortoise, on which people threw money for good luck), and Tania took several attempts at her "Happiness is what we all want" portion of our Vietnam video.  It was an exhilarating site trip to set foot on one of the thousands of formations that fill this famous bay.

Inside the Hang Sung Sot Caves

Some people also took a mini boat trip into another part of the bay, but the Palumbos opted to relax on the big boat and catch up on some sleep.  When dinner rolled around, we enjoyed a delicious buffet meal before the captain stood next to our table, asked the room to quiet down for a minute, and proceeded to sing a famous Vietnamese wedding song for Tania and me.  We couldn't help but shed a tear as he delicately voiced the chorus "It's okay to spend the rest of your life with me."  It was an incredible gesture that reminded us why we were on this trip in the first place.  The captain then gave us a delicious piece of cake which we shared with our table and those sitting around us, which included a very funny and gregarious couple from Ireland (Sandy and his wife).

 Sunset on the majestic Ha Long Bay

After dinner, Tony and Anna Marie taught Tania and me how to play bridge, which if you know how to play, you know that teaching it is harder than most anything on this planet.  Think teaching someone how to drive a stick, speak a new language, and hitting a baseball, all combined, and you have the complexity of trying to teach someone how to play bridge.  After a few practice rounds we played for real, and with some help, were able to grasp the general rules and strategies of the game.  Now that we have that down, we can play all the time when we're in Phoenix.  YAY!

 Our home for a day, the Ha Long Jasmine

The morning was uneventful before we docked and jumped back in our van to drive to the Hanoi airport.  On the way we stopped at some shopping centers which supposedly are filled with hand-made crafts from locals, but we were skeptical when we saw many of the same goods sold elsewhere in Vietnam and China.  They did have some decent stuff, though, so we took advantage of this final opportunity to buy gifts for people back home.

Then we were off back to Saigon so the old people could spend one last night at the Saigon Park Hyatt before flying back to the US at 4am, and so the youngins could spend two last days in Saigon with Steve and Lisa before taking off for Malaysia.

All in all, we couldn't deny the beauty of Ha Long Bay, but the hippie side of us couldn't help but notice the incredible amount of gas and trash blanketing the top layer of the water.  Since the bay is such a popular tourist attraction, the locals have populated the water with more boats than we could count, which obviously is going to soil the water beyond any natural condition.  All we could think of is that our friend Lauren Horner (Hey LB!) needed to open a Waterkeeper office here and clean this place up before it's completely ruined.

Any way, no more tangents.  We loved it up here, and if you can, try to spend a few days taking-in the awe inspiring views of Ha Long Bay.  Just try and do it with as little impact on the environment as possible.

Phong Nha Caves

We drove 4 hours north of Hue to explore the Phong Nha caves.  One was only accessible by water, and the other after a treacherous hike.  He's a glimpse of our boat ride just before entering the water cave.  Pretty cool.

Boating into the Phong Nha Cave from Craig Palumbo on Vimeo.

Days 80-83 Thursday-Sunday January 28-31 Hue, Vietnam

We hopped off the overnight train in Hue and immediately realized two things:

1)   1.  We were finally back in warm weather.  We shall never take it for granted again.

2)   2.  The haggling and pushy salesmanship by locals on the sidewalks is as prevalent and obnoxious as we had read.

Yet, after being lost in the cold, damp forest for the past several days, we were happy to welcome both of these points in exchange for a vivacious setting and being able to pack our jackets away.

Our first meal was at a restaurant frequented by our friends Dave and Brian back in the day when they lived in Hue.  The staff definitely remembered them, albeit by their Vietnamese names.  Dave told us to look for the BLT on the menu because he and Bri introduced it to the owners, and funny enough, it’s still on the menu.  I ordered it, and even though it tasted delicious, it looked nothing like a BLT that you’d receive in the states.  It didn’t matter, though, we still loved being in this place that our friends loved so long ago.  The art that they bought the restaurant still hung on the walls, too.  So cool.

We spent our first afternoon in Hue exploring the famous Citadel.  Basically a square shaped city with 2m-thick, 10km-long walls encompassing it, with a beautiful moat lining the outer walls, this site lies on the north side of the Perfume River.  It served as the residence of emperors dating back to the early 19^th century, but was basically leveled during the Tet Offensive in 1968.  Only the outer walls still stand, but the grounds inside make for an amazing stroll through the city’s glorious yet unfortunate past.

 Remains of the Purple Palace within the Citadel

The following day we toured several tombs of past emperors, exploring the beautiful grounds of these sacred sites.  Our tour guide, who was also friends with Dave and Brian back in the day, described the history of each emperor and the significance of each structure within the grounds.  If you go, don’t expect a cemetery-type attraction.  These tombs are basically gorgeous residences on which the rulers lived and were buried after their death.  Amazing landscapes which make for incredible photos.

We also stopped by the Thien Mu Pagoda, which is the unofficial symbol of the city.  Also lying on the Perfume River, these grounds are filled with colorful flowers and young monks wandering the gardens in their maroon robes.  This pagoda also houses the car in which Thích Quảng Đức and his fellow monks drove to Saigon on June 11, 1963, so that Thích could burn himself to death in protest against the persecution of Buddhists by South Vietnam's Ngo Dinh Diem administration.  The image of him burning is one of the most famous photos of the 20^th century, which was made even more famous for our generation when Rage Against The Machine used it on the cover of their first album. 

We used our tour guide and car while we had them at our disposal to drive over to the beach and show us an authentic, local seafood restaurant.  Their insights into the city and knowledge of the area definitely helped us understand the city more than if we were to have explored on our own.

Having seen all of the sites Hue has to offer, and giving up on it being a good city to get a quality massage (the horror), we hired a driver to take us up to the Phong Nha Cave, about 4 hours north of Hue.  A wise person would have visited this cave on their way to Hue since we had just passed it a few days prior, but that wise person can kiss our asses because we doubt he’s ever tried to navigate through a strange continent without ever making a mistake.

Before we got to the caves, we took-in the picturesque rice fields and limestone mountains outside the car windows while listening to our trusty iPods.  Once inside the national park, we hopped on a private long boat and headed up river to the 400 million year old cave.  As we passed through the water threshold, the driver killed the engine and began to row us into darkness.  Beyond the first pitch black corner appeared brilliant karst formations backlit with vibrant neon lights of blue, green, purple, and yellow.  It felt like we were inside the It’s a small world ride at Disneyworld.  Silence was only broken by the strokes of our driver’s paddle and water pellets falling off of the ceiling.  

Once out of the cave, we climbed what felt like 10,000 steps to the Tien Son cave.  We weren’t sure what was more welcoming once we made it to the top and into the cavern;  the exquisitely backlit stalactites and stalagmites, or the cool, damp air to save us from the heat and humidity outside.  Either way, we got to walk amongst the rock formations this time, and were blown away by the immense beauty around us.  Crazy to think that this cave was used as Hindu sanctuaries by the Chams in the 9^thth centuries, and as a hospital and ammunition depot during the American War. and 10

Then it was back into our private car to drive past the DMZ and back to Hue so we could get a good night's rest before heading down to Hoi An the next morning.

Days 76-79 Sunday-Wednesday January 24-27 Cuc Phuong National Park, Vietnam

Okay, we’ve previously reported how non-ideal the overnight trains in China and ferries in Thailand are, but the public bus and motor taxi from Hanoi to Cuc Phuong National Park make those look like first class flights on BA.  I mean we were exhausted when we got to the park, and all we had done that day was sit on our asses, albeit crammed inside a 12 person bus with 24 other people, and on scooters lugging our luggage on our laps.  At least we weren’t alone on these rides.  We shared the bus ride with all of the locals who sat next to us on bags of rope and on top of refrigerators.  We also picked up a few folks on the highway, and not when we stopped to get them…when we slowed down so they could run and jump onto the bus as it rolled by Indiana Jones-style.  These Vietnamese people are clever and creative if nothing else.

Before we got to the park, we drove through vast fields of limestone hills that harked back to our days in Yangshuo, China.  At that time, I stated that Yangshuo was like nothing else on the planet.  I was wrong.  And at the time, my friend Dave (What up Dood!?) told us not to count out Vietnam.  Well, he was right.  The limestone hills are just as beautiful here, and also stretched into the horizon by infinite paddie fields spotted with locals bending over at work, which was stunning to see.  We were just now getting to know how gorgeous this country was going to be.  And it got even more so when we entered the park.

We spent the first night in the lodge at the entrance of the gate.  There’s really not much to do at Cuc Phuong except hike, visit the botanical garden, and check out the monkey conservation center.  It was raining, so hiking was out of the question, and the botanical garden was too much of a walk to justify seeing something so similar to what we already have on the trip; plants and flowers.  Therefore, what better else to do than hang out with a few endangered langers?  They were such fun little creatures swinging with their body-length arms, but it’s sad to know how many people are hunting them just outside of the cages where we observed them.  It’s good to know that a group like these scientists are working to preserve species like the ones we had so much fun visiting.

The next day we drove 20km into the center of the park where, literally, we were alone in the middle of the forest, completely out of ear shot from anyone else.  Well, except for the three girls who work the restaurant and do each other’s hair all day.  And calling it a restaurant is being generous.  The electricity is only on between 6-9pm, and there’s only one item on the menu; whatever they feel like serving you, which is always some sort of fried rice.  At least they had cold beer in the fridge.  No idea how it stayed cold while the electricity was out most of the day, but who cares if the result is a positive one.

 

Trail to our little cabin, in the middle of absolute nowhere!

 

 Our cabin from afar.  Look at the misty hills!

We spent out days hiking to the 1000 year old tree and exploring a cave that seemed to go on forever.  The deeper we got, the more we felt like hard core explorers.  Tania loves caves more than anything, so it was fun to climb and crawl through the pitch black, guided by a small flashlight, next to my new wife.

 

Tania made it up 100 steps without fainting.  Victory!  Oh wait, there's another hour to hike.  :(

 
 

Gangster, Vietnamese forest-style!

 
 

At the base of the 1000 year old tree.

Hiding behind a mound of stalagmites inside the cave

We spent our nights watching episodes of How I Met Your Mother until the computer battery died (since there’s no electricity after 9), and then listened to the movements outside our cabin, which we were convinced were huge bears and other exotic beasts.  We surely knew they weren’t other people because there were none within miles, so the noises drove our imaginations crazy.  I can only imagine the expressions on our faces lying there in the dark.  Wide eyes jumping back and forth every time a bush rustled just outside the thin wood wall behind the headboard.  Hahaha.  Reminds me of trying to sleep as a kid after watching Nightmare On Elm Street.

Night monsters aside, the lush forest at Cuc Phuong made for an amazing escape, which allowed us to experience some of the natural beauty that Vietnam has to offer.  But we could only take so much seclusion after three days, so it was time to catch an overnight train all the Hue to Hue.  (wocka wocka wocka)