It has been awhile and a few miles since I last wrote. I’m currently in Hoi An, Vietnam waiting to catch a bus to the beach town of Nha Trang. I don’t think I will stay but will head to Dalat in the mountains. It all depends on bus connections.
I left Timor-Leste nearly three weeks ago. I spent a quick night in Singapore with a friend of a friend and left some stuff behind. The next morning I had an early flight to Hanoi on Tiger Airways. However, on my flight into Singapore I was reading an article in the Strait Times (the Singapore Newspaper) on how Tiger Airways was canceling many of its flights due to two aircraft that needed unexpected maintenance. I was nervous. We were only going to spend a few hours in Hanoi before catching a night train to Lao Cai on our way to Sapa. Out of the Tiger Airways’ eight morning flights, only two weren’t canceled, the ones to Hong Kong and Hanoi. We were in luck.
The immense development of Singapore was a sharp shock to the senses after rough and tumble Timor. The streets were pristinely paved; I narily felt a bump as cruised along a freeway with well manicured landscaping. Lights climbed into the sky, emitted from the offices of high-rise towers. The port, the world’s busiest, hummed along on the left of the freeway for what seemed most of the 45 minute taxi ride. It doesn’t need to be said that it was a shock to the senses, but it was nice to shake off the dust from Timor.
I was going to Hanoi to visit Nancy, a friend from UCLA, who has family in the city, and to celebrate the 1000thanniversary of its founding. Hanoi was founded on October 10, 1010. Its not very often that you get to go to a 1000th birthday party. The party was to last from October 1 to the 10. We were leaving Hanoi immediately so we could go to Sapa and make it back for the important last three days.
Sapa is a mountain town by the Chinese border. Mt. Fanispan (aka Fancy pants), Vietnam’s highest mountain, stands out as a bump in a long ridge of mountains. Our goal for Sapa was to climb the 3143 meter mountain. We were blessed with amazing weather and completed the climb over two days.
Sapa is known for more than its mountains and cool weather. There also is a large number of ethnic groups. Familiar to many Americans are the Hmong, which live in the mountains of Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. There are four different Hmong groups differentiated by their dress: Black Hmong, White Hmong, Flower Hmong, and Green Hmong. There are also a couple other groups like the Red Dao.
Hanoi was a crazy place. Being a large SE Asian city, it has only been limitedly affected by the rapid westernization and high-rise building boom of places like Saigon, Bangkok, and Kuala Lumpur. It’s old merchants quarter is still intact, though today it is would better be called the tourist’s quarter. The streets are dominated by motorbikes cris-crossing paths in a chaotic ballet, more resembling a school of fish chasing chum than traffic as we American’s know it. Hoam Kiem Lake is Hanoi’s central park. Much of the people looking to get involved in the festivities went there. The busiest night was Saturday, October 9th, with what seemed a mass of a million people doing circles around the lake. Stages were set up on several corners, but many of the acts were bad. This didn’t affect the mood; most people were out to revel in the masses of people and spend time with family and friends.
I made a quick stop at Halong Bay, which was beautiful, but touristy beyond belief.
Next I stopped in one of Vietnam’s historic capitals, Hue. Until the August Revolution of 1945 that put the communists in power this is where the emperor’s ruled from. An enormous and spectacular citadel dominates the northern bank of the Pearl River. The citadel is slowly being restored after being heavily damaged in the wars of 1945 and 1968 and a couple natural disasters. It was here where I finally rented a motorbike and hit the streets on my own. I’m proud of myself! Only one person cursed me.
I’m currently in Hoi An, and old trading town that has slickly maneuvered into becoming a mega tourist trap. I’m not impressed. The old parts of town don’t look that different than many other areas I’ve been. I would like it more if I was looking to buy a tailored suit or some other handicraft good. But, I’m traveling on a budget and don’t have room in my bag for too many souvenirs, especially this early in the trip.
You are now up to date with my travels. In the coming days I will write more on other aspects of Vietnam.
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