Hanoi and Halong Bay

I spent my first week of Vietnam in Hanoi and Halong Bay. Prior to arriving in Hanoi, I was advised by Mai (a native of Vietnam who has been living in Japan for the last 10 yrs...we met in Venice) "Beware of the traffic." I thanked Mai for the advice but I started to wonder why I would need to be warned of traffic. After all, every U.S. metro area has REALLY bad traffic. I'm sure I can handle this. Besides, I'm not driving anywhere so traffic won't be an issue for me. When I landed in Hanoi, I quickly realized what type of traffic she was referring to: The Motorbike Traffic aka the Scooters running through town. These scooters are EVERYWHERE. I'm guessing that there are 50 scooters to every 1 car. Once I saw all these scooters zip by everywhere in Hanoi, I began to realize that I did indeed need to BEWARE OF THE TRAFFIC.

Crossing the street in Hanoi is not an easy task since you generally have HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of scooters buzzing by. There are traffic lights at certain intersections but not for the majority of intersections. I made the mistake of running across the street the first time and tried to dodge the the scooters as they were all heading towards me....BIG MISTAKE. I almost caused a few accidents because I was jumping in front of scooters so fast they didn't see me coming out of nowhere. A really nice Vietnamese man on the other side of the street saw this happen and he advised me that the safest way is to walk at a normal pace and just look straight ahead of you. He told me not to look at the scooters heading my way and just walk straight ahead and I will be fine. He also told me if I followed his instructions, I could even walk with a blindfold and I wouldn't have any problems because these motorist know what they are doing. He was right. I didn't do the blindfold test but I got the hang of it and I found it fun crossing the street.

Once I got the street crossing part down, I started to explore Hanoi. I enjoyed Hanoi very much because it is a very quaint and warm city. I loved the nice lakes and parks around the city and I also loved seeing the contrast in areas where you could see the French influence. I also did the toursity things like checking out the Ho Chih Minh museum, the Ho Chih Minh masoleum, and the Presidential Palace. Hanoi has such an interesting history with not just the Vietnam War but their deep past under China and France. Again, another list of things for me to read further when I get back.

After 4 days in Hanoi, I went up north to Halong Bay for 3 days. Halong Bay is one of the most breathtaking places that I've ever seen. It definitely rivals the Greek Islands. Halong Bay is one of the contendors of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World and it was also the setting for James Bonds' film Tomorrow Never Dies. Halong Bay consists of almost 2000 islands all lined up along the northeastern part of Vietnam. Our group took a boat cruise through the area for 3 days so we were able to hike through a few of the islands, visit a remote village, and explore through a cave. (I will post all pics when I get back to the U.S.)

During the time that we were at Halong Bay, we also spent a few hours kayaking. Out of our group of 10, there were 2 kids (brother and sister from Australia). Indy, the 6 yrs old girl, insisted on kayaking with me. I felt like throwing up because I've never kayaked before and now I was responsible for this little girl. If I knew how to kayak, I would have been gung ho about this but I was completely clueless. I told Dee and Andrew (Indy's parents) that I didn't know what I was doing but they were totally fine with it. They said Indy was a good swimmer so it won't be a problem. Indy and I got into the kayak and wait for the others to get in their kayaks. Our guide is in his own kayak and he leads us down the bay. Well, Indy and I have problems because I steered us in the wrong direction and now we are about 200 yards away from everyone else. We are trying our best to turn the kayak around and it's not moving the way we want it to. Instead we keep on moving futher and further away and now we're about 500 yards away and our group looks smaller and smaller in the distance. Indy get feisty and says, "I'm going to jump in the water and turn this kayak around for us." I told her not to. She then gets feistier and says, "NANCY, WE NEED TO TURN THIS AROUND. DON'T WORRY I'LL JUMP IN THE WATER AND TURN IT FOR US." I'm now in disbelief. I'm thinking to myself, "This 6 year old is about to save the day." I couldn't let this happen. I did not want to jump in the water but I had no choice. What would her parents think if a 30 year old just sat in the kayak and let this kid fix the problem? I jumped in the water and started turning the kayak around when our guide showed up minutes later and tied our kayaks together so that we could be rejoined with our group. Once our kayaks were joined together, I realized kayaking was fun...I just had to sit there and enjoy the scenery.

The kayaking story is not over....after kayaking for 2 hours, we were now back at the dock to return our kayaks. Indy gets out of the kayak first and then it was my turn. As I put one foot on the dock, the other foot is in the kayak and the kayak starts drifting away. I tried my best to put pressure on my foot so that the kayak comes back towards the dock but it was not happening. Half my weight is on the dock and the other half is in the kayak. You can guess what happened next....the kayak drifted away and I fell into the water because I couldn't get my other foot the dock. Our guide hurries over to grab the kayak and then he gets me. I seriously felt like Jack Tripper. This is something that would have happened to him if he went camping with Janet and Chrissy.

After two cities in Vietnam, I can honestly say that I really love this place. It is definitely near the top of my list of favorite cities and countires. Not only is this country beautiful, the Vietnamese people are wonderful. They are so warm and genuine. Even though the majority of these people do not have a lot of money, they still manage to be giving and generous. A good example was when I was in Hanoi, I was craving a snack (Big Schocker) and I saw this street vendor selling baguettes (French influence). The sign said 5000 VD which is about 30 cents. I gave him my 5000 VD, grabbed my baguette, and walked away. About 20 feet away, I saw the baguette vendor running towards me with a baguette. I immediately freaked out thinking that I must not have given him enough money and now he is chasing after me. I looked around me and all these people are staring at me so it looks I stole the 30 cent baguette. When the vendor catches up to me he tells me in broken english that the 5000 VD is for two baguettes. I told him it was no big deal and I'll just take one (I know I could eat two but why go there). He insisted on giving me the other one and I told him that he could have it. He smiled and we said goodbye. TWO DAYS LATER I'm walking down the same street and this guy sees me again. He remembers me and insists on giving me the baguette. I told him I would give him 5000 VD again for the baguette but he would not accept. We go back and forth, over and over again, and finally HE WON unfortunately.