The Mekong Delta

Our final activity in Vietnam was a tour of the Mekong Delta. We started in My Tho, where we visited the large Buddhist pagoda (temple) complex Vinh Trang, with a mix of Vietnamese, Khmer and European influences. There were a large number of massive statues of Buddha, including James' favourite, in repose, which he dubbed "the Buddha of the afternoon nap". There were again an array of lovely gardens, and the interior was spectacular. We were treated to the sound of the monks chanting as we went in, and they subsequently filed out for lunch in time for us to go into the main worship area. 

This was followed by a boat trip on the Tien river, visiting Phoenix and Unicorn islands which each have small permanent populations. The original means of making a living was solely agriculture but there is also clearly a large business in tourism, and we saw a lot of people from around the world doing much the same as us for the day. We visited a farm growing a range of tropical fruits and got a chance to taste a variety, while listening to traditional folk songs (and one distinctly non-traditional rendition of "If you're happy and you know it"). There were many products on sale and opportunities for tipping, and the whole thing felt somewhat tourist trappy. But it was definitely interesting to have a look around, and we followed up with a sampan ride through one of the canals. From there it was back on the boat to another island for lunch, which was a lot of fantastic food, including a whole grilled fish. 

A horse and cart ride took us to a crocodile farm and led to one of the most intriguing discoveries of the trip, as it was home to the "coconut religion", founded by a man who only ate coconuts and drank coconut water for 3 years (he lived into his 80s!). It blended Christianity and Buddhism (not unlike another religion we discovered that day, Caodaism - fascinating, look it up), and at its peak there were 4000 adherents, praying for the reunification of Vietnam. They were banned in 1975 by the communist government, despite their clear success... 

We finished up in Can Tho for the night, and the huge lunch meant that after strolling along the river and watching the locals and tourists promenade, we headed back to our hotel for the evening, dinner an unnecessary extravagance. Luckily there was a rooftop bar where we could perch with drinks in hand.

The tour continued the next (early) morning, with a visit to the Cai Rang floating market, which is about exactly what it sounds like. The Mekong has been a major trade route for a long time, and people would come from everywhere to sell their wares from boats on the river. This is ongoing, although it is now a much smaller operation as better infrastructure on the banks and roads has made the markets close to redundant. It looks a pretty tough way to make a living, and despite the number of tourists, it seems to be in a steady decline. The contrast with the market we visited on the banks of the river afterwards was a case in point. We had some discussion about whether this represents a loss of culture unique to the area, or a welcome transition to more modern (and more profitable) ways of doing business. We'll leave it to you to guess who was on either side! 

We visited a big traditional house on the way to lunch, which featured in a moderately famous French movie and had a fantastic collection of orchids in the gardens. Lunch found us at another crocodile farm, with much bigger crocs than previously. James was dismissive after his experiences in Kununurra, where he claims the crocs were much bigger still.

Probably the highlight of the whole trip was the final visit to a wildlife sanctuary, based around a forest and system of canals. Interestingly, many of the tress lining the canals are Australian melaleucas, which are used as a larger substitute for the local version. There is a huge array of birdlife in particular, and we were lucky to spot a kingfisher (and some other unidentified birds) amongst an astounding number of egrets and cuckoos. We climbed a viewing tower with some Khmer monks, had a boat ride through the canals birdspotting and walked on the longest bamboo bridge in Vietnam - 3km long (we didn't walk the entire length)! Exiting the park we passed extensive preparations for Vietnam's national day of reunification, which was a common theme for the last few days of our time there. Our final night in Vietnam was spent in Chau Doc, getting ready for the boat ride up the river to Phnom Penh. 

Ho Chi Minh City

We flew in to Ho Chi Minh City from Danang, in what turned out to be a case of perfect timing. It turns out that a day later there was a big typhoon which hit Vietnam between Danang and Hanoi, and shut down the top part of the country, with high winds and flooding all over the place. We were pretty glad to miss out on that experience.

Our hotel was pretty central in a quiet side alleyway, and we decided to go to a popular tourist street to hunt for dinner, the equivalent of "beer street" in Hanoi. This turned out to be a bit of a bust, it was not as much fun, or as lively as its counterpart in Hanoi, and had a pretty seedy feel to it, with girly bars up and down the street. The back alleyways weren't much better, and we decided to make our way back towards the hotel. Luckily we found a really good little restaurant serving a shrimp and squid soup with dry vermicelli noodles, which was super tasty, and pretty much made up for the earlier disappointment.

The main activity in Ho Chi Minh was wandering around the city, as is our want, and we visited the Independence Palace, which was the government centre in the south until reunification in 1975. It has now been set up as a celebration of Vietnamese unification and independence, and turns out to be massively popular with the locals, as well as tourists. The fact that the Vietnamese National Day was impending probably helped. The grounds were scattered with Vietnamese women (mostly), in traditional dress being photographed in various poses all over the place. There was also a smattering of (presumed) newlyweds doing something similar, with the grooms in full army regalia. The palace itself was impressive, with rooms for state functions, presenting ambassadors, diplomatic meetings, cabinet meetings and offices. Gillian was in her element, enjoying the comparison of the state function rooms with that of Australian Parliament House. The Grand Hall reminded both of us of the Great Hall at APH, although a little smaller.

There was also a bunker, built during the war, from which wartime operations were coordinated. We found time to visit a secondary building which had a exhibition detailing life in Saigon  in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and the rule (and subsequent overthrow) of Ngo Dinh Diem (note: Ho Chi Minh city and Saigon are used interchangeably here). It was all very interesting, and we spent enough time there to be needing a late lunch. Stopping in one of the cafes on the grounds was a bust when we discovered that every dish contained snails, so we ventured outside instead!

We also managed to find the Jade Dragon Pagoda, which is one of the major temples in the city. It felt a little strange to be there when there were more adherents than tourists, and we were careful to stay out of the way and remain respectful. They had some great bonsai and orchids out the front too, keeping James happy... Along the way we got to explore some of the city, as well as see the Saigon Opera House, which is another clear example of the French influence in Vietnam. Just nearby was a big statue of Ho Chi Minh himself, outside the Headquarters of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee. We had some amusement watching some Vietjet staff filming what we presume was a promo for the airline.  

The other area of the city we visited was District 11, which houses the temptingly named "Dumpling Street". Of course, this was our destination for lunch for the day, and we duly found it and sat down at one of the restaurants. They were very good about having non-Vietnamese speakers there, and even managed to dig up an English menu. Which you think would help... Gillian got her "soup dumplings" - dumplings in soup, but it was clear there was a mix up with James' order of dumplings with squid. The next menu item on the list was "dumplings with pigskin", which is what turned up to the table. And no, not crackling, but rather boiled pigskin in a soup with the dumplings. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great. James was a brave soldier though, and managed to eat it all. 

Further exploring of District 11 showed us a more typical slice of life in Ho Chi Minh City, with a wide range of metal shops, some specialising in just springs, or bearings. It boggles the mind to think that so many small places selling the same thing could all make a viable living. We also spent some time exploring a (massive) local market, selling everything from fresh fish, meat and vegetables to shoes, hats and temple ornaments. There were some Chinese community halls/temples along the way as well, of course. It was very interesting across the course of our time in the country to see the influence of the Chinese migrant community on life in Vietnam, over a long period of time.

My Son and Hue

Danang is a great place to base yourself to explore some of the most significant sites in Vietnam. One of these is Hue, which houses a citadel from which the Nguyen empire ruled. It also has a spectacular train ride from Danang up the coast through the Hai Van Pass, which Gillian duly booked. We found ourselves on a tourist train, which came complete with an entertainment carriage, with live singing of Vietnamese folk songs. Seating was allocated, but the whole system was pretty loose, with many people parking themselves at the entertainment carriage or walking up and down looking for the best instaworthy shots. This was lucky, as our late decision to book meant that we had seats in separate carriages. Gillian spent about half her time enjoying the entertainment, while James had a more contemplative ride looking out the window. The downside of the train was that it stopped for every other train to go past, which led to some delays (top speed only reaching 46 kph). The arrival into Hue was over an hour late, which turned out to put a bit of pressure on our timetable for the rest of the day.

The fortress in Hue is built on the banks of the Perfume River (it doesn't actually smell that good...) and dominated the view from the opposite side as we walked over there from the station. It is a massive complex and contains its own Forbidden City, although it is not quite so well preserved as its more famous cousin in Beijing. That said, it is an incredibly impressive complex, which deserves more attention than it seems to get. 

A lot of work has gone in to preservation and restoration of the complex, and our jaws were on the floor half the time with the scale of the buildings and the complexity of the entire place. It was a fantastic place to visit, and came complete with a spectacular bonsai garden (for James), art display and a wealth of history about the functioning of the Nguyen empire up until the French took over. The only downside was that we could have kept going and going, and regretted not booking accommodation in Hue for the night to give us some extra time to explore the citadel and the rest of the city. 

The other place we visited in central Vietnam was the My Son sanctuary, yet another UNESCO listed site (as is the Hue citadel and Forbidden City). This was the main religious centre of the Champa kingdom, and was built in stages from the 4th to the 13th centuries. It is a temple complex akin to Angkor Wat, although nowhere near as big and extensively damaged from bombing during the American War. It has lots of architectural elements in common, but also incorporates European features (like stone columns) in some of the buildings, originating from the emergence of trade routes between East and West. The original bricks naturally inhibit algae/moss/lichen growth. They are also 25% lighter than modern bricks, while retaining the same strength. Apparently investigations to date cannot reproduce these features. 

Some of the original buildings still stand, and many more are in the process of being recreated across the site. There are many interesting features, including extensive use of linga-yoni stones, which represent the union of Shiva and Shakti. Our guide had a slightly different interpretation, with the two parts representing the male and female sex organs, and water poured over the top of the linga to collect in the yoni is collected then to enhance the fertility of crops - a kind of metaphysical fertiliser. The temples had a sole entrance and no windows, representing a return to the womb, and there were buildings for food preparation, storage and ritual bathing. The whole site was fascinating to explore, including being able to watch some of the archaeological and restoration work that is ongoing. 

Danang and Hoi An

A couple of days on the central coast of Vietnam provided a chance for a bit more exploration. We were based in Danang, which is a fun beachside city that we really enjoyed. It was helped by the fact the the hotel we were staying in was a complete contrast to Halong Bay. The floor didn't leak, it was in a lovely area with lots of restaurants, and the staff were just fantastic. This was the Vietnam we signed up for! The area also had more massage parlours than you could imagine, it felt like every second shopfront down the street of our hotel had someone out the front offering us massages. You really had to walk the gauntlet to get anywhere. 

The beachfront was pretty nice, pretty much all the things that Halong Bay wasn't. There were well attended bars and restaurants along the shoreline, even well into the night, along with with a variety of different activities like banana boating and parasailing. We were using Danang primarily as a jump off point to visit other places for the day, but really could have added a day just to explore the city itself and maybe get in some beach time. As it was, the best we did was nighttime strolls hand-in-hand along the beach watching the storms roll around the city, with a stop for a drink or two. We were also pleased to find a couple of great little restaurants close to the hotel with a range of local dishes and priced ridiculously cheaply. It's a place well worth visiting, and we wish we had allocated more time.

One of the places close to Danang that was on our list to visit was Hoi An. This is an old trading port, and was once the main point of contact for Western traders with Vietnam, particularly the Dutch. It is very popular with tourists, with a combination of history, food and shopping making it irresistible to most. We had a guided tour for a couple of hours, with the lovely Kimchug, showing us through the architecture of several famous houses, as well as Buddhist and Toaist temples established by the large Chinese-origin population. For the first time we saw incense spirals lit at these temples, which brun for up to two weeks, in service of carrying prayers to heaven. 

We stopped at one of the houses for a herbal tea tasting where we were also treated to slices of pomelo with the curator of the house museum. One of the more famous houses is still owned by the descendants of a Chinese merchant who was famous for his philanthropy, giving lots of money throughout his life to local people in need. They had an example of Confucius' cup (worth googling...) there, which was a tempting purchase, but the thought of having to carry it through half of Southeast Asia tempered any impulse buying. Another interesting feature was the markings showing the highest flood levels - the town floods on a pretty regular basis. 1964 saw waters rise to the bottom of the second story - and the ceilings are high. It is a bit of a frightening prospect.

The buildings and layout of the city are a real mix of East and West, and it is not hard to imagine it as a bustling trading post several hundred years ago. In that way, it reminded us both of Nagasaki, which held a similar place in Japanese history. There is also a famous "Japanese bridge" built by traders to link two separate areas within the city and now an attraction in its own right. We also visited a silk specialty store, which had silkworms at various life stages and a demonstration of silk spinning which was quite fascinating. The had magnificent embroideries (they looked like photos) as well as a range of different options for clothing that could be personally tailored for you overnight. We were glad of the fact that light packing limited the amount of temptation!  We finished our day there wandering around the streets, inspecting the many shops (silk/tailoring, souvenirs and stonework seemed to be the main themes), before catching our ride back to Danang. 

Halong Bay

Halong Bay was an exercise in contrasts. We had booked a hotel that looked pretty nice online, and was surprisingly cheap. It was located in the "Sunland" area of the city, and when we got there we discovered some interesting things about the place. It seems that the development was part of a real estate boom pre-COVID, where unscrupulous developers built frantically for investors who then got caught out with a bunch of (mostly) useless properties. The development we found ourselves in was like a weird ghost town. It was allegedly modelled on Vienna (complete with statues of famous composers at street intersections), and was full of empty hotel receptions, closed restaurants and empty street level shop windows. A stroll down to the beach revealed more of the same, with lots of beach bars and deck chairs, but no people. The creepy factor had definitely started to set in - it felt like we were on the set at the start of a horror movie. Wandering around, there were very few people anywhere, apart from some confused looking tourists looking for somewhere that might be open for dinner (or breakfast). That said, we finally found a lively little local bar that had some great seafood dishes for dinner on our first night - the local specialty was squid cakes. 

Our hotel was superficially nice, but there were some serious issues. After inspection, we decided that no time would be spent in the pool for fear of what we might catch. There were some serious drainage issues in the bathroom, which led to some minor olefactory distress each time we walked in. And it took a little while to realise that the wet floors weren't because we had been wandering out in the rain, but were, rather, from water coming up from under the floorboards as we walked around. In the end, the room (which was big and cheap, with a decent bed at least) did the job, but we were pretty glad it was only two nights. One more would definitely have been a bridge too far.

Of course, we were there for a cruise around the bay, which is the (world Heritage listed) star attraction. We had booked a half-day tour, and had decided to pay about 50% extra to switch from a maximum of 49 people, to a private tour for two. Concerns about the weather meant we got an early morning message saying the tour couldn't go ahead, but by lunchtime the weather was deemed satisfactory and we were able to reschedule for the afternoon. The tour made up for all hotel- and location-related disappointments. 

We got to the main tour port and met our guide, the very personable Hieu, who took us to the boat. It was a big boat, for one of the 50 people tours, but just for the two of us. There were twice as many staff as passengers... 

The water was calm and a tasty lunch provided as we set out into the bay. It was actually a glorious day for it in the end, incredibly calm on the water and with few other boats around as well. Mostly, people come up for a day trip from Hanoi, and we think that the bad morning weather (combined with the fact that is was a Tuesday), meant that very few trips went ahead. The bay is a bunch of karst formations sticking up out of the water, and it was immediately apparent as to why it is such a big attraction. We went for a ride around some of the islands, and past the famous (apparently) "kissing rock", before pulling up at a floating fisherman's village. 

Fishing families have lived on the bay for a very long time, and continue to do so, now supplementing their income with tourist money. In this particular case, it took the form of kayak rentals and boat rides, through the cave formations in the islands. We grabbed a kayak and some instructions ("go over there - it's a private tour so there is no schedule, take as much time as you want"), and we were off. Small numbers meant that we went through the first cave formation into a lagoon located in the centre of an island, which was beautiful, spectacular and mind-blowing. Especially because we got there just as another group was leaving and found ourselves completely on our own in the "hidden" lagoon for about 15 minutes - and experience that few tourists ever get and born from the combined circumstances of the day and dumb luck. We left as another group arrived and went on through another cave into a small bay which we again had to ourselves. The gods were definitely smiling on us. 

By the time we made it back to the boat, it was on to see some big limestone caves on another island, and we were again lucky enough to have one of them all to ourselves. Hieu was a fantastic guide, full of plenty of interesting stories and facts, and we felt incredibly lucky to have picked just the right trip and just the right time to do it. We didn't even mind so much that we had to be careful where we trod on our hotel floor when we got back for the night!

Mai Chau - people and lifestyle

The people around Mai Chau come from a variety of the 54 cultural groups identified in Vietnam. There are White Thai, Blue Hmong, Flower Hmong, Muong, Day and Viet people. Our guide, Hyunh, is White Thai, and explained lots of the differences in terms of cultural dress as well as the regions they live in and types of crops that people grow. We couldn't really keep it all straight... However, up in the mountains people grow nearly everything they need for themselves, with a huge variety of fruit trees, vegetable gardens that include corn, sugar cane, cassava, eggplants and many varieties of melons/gourds/pumpkins etc. There are also chickens everywhere, pigs, water buffalo and a lot of personal fish farms. There's also more commercial operations, like the one we visited on our boat tour/drinking session. As a result, it is almost a completely self sustaining system, with surplus sold at markets and most waste being consumed in a way that results in the production of more food. Plants are fed to fish and other animals, fish ponds are drained into rice paddies, other waste is used as fertiliser, chickens, buffalo (and some goats) roam around eating the vegetation on the sides of the roads and through the surrounding forest/jungle. Snails are harvested from the rice paddies (a bridge too far for us), as well as mice and rats (yes, to eat). There is also an abundance of fruit, with papaya, lingon, jackfruit, durian (gross!!!), pineapple, pomelos, figs and bananas. It's an impressive approach to food production, although it is worth remembering that it's also a lot of hard work, despite the idyllic setting. 

We also got to see an up close visit of a chopstick factory, of which there are many scattered throughout towns in the region. People harvest the bamboo from the jungle and take it down to the factories. We constantly saw this in action, with a variety of methods to bring the bamboo into town, including being towed on trailers behind motor scooters. The factories are impressive operations in their own right, although the approach to WHS is from another time. They're very noisy, and there is a lot of moving, chopping machinery. The process uses a good fraction of the bamboo to make a range of different chopsticks, from the familiar "break apart" disposable versions to fancier round chopsticks for restaurants. Waste material is collected and sent by truck to the local paper factory. It's a very sustainable type of industry, with no noticeable impact on the amount of bamboo growing everywhere, and little in the way of real waste - at least that we saw.  

Tourism has had a huge impact in the area, with a vast number of homestays and resorts for people coming from all over the world, as well as large numbers of Vietnamese people - in particular coming up from Hanoi for a couple days. This has clearly driven a lot of development and lifted the standard of living in the local area, with a huge number of jobs created for local people and new economic opportunities for people working as cooks, cleaners and staff for the resorts, as well as tour guides and drivers, and lots of homestays with little restaurants, coffee shops and local souvenirs. We also got to experience a couple of cultural shows at our resort, with a dance performance from local White Thai people, including one where you had to jump through the clapping bamboo sticks. We declined to participate... 

Overall, it was definitely an interesting experience to get amongst the local villages and see it for ourselves, and we could at least feel like we were having a net positive impact while we were there. 

Mai Chau activities

At the "suggestion" of James' siblings and siblings-in-law, we headed up to the mountains for a week, to the Mai Chau district. This was a much needed break from the constant movement, a chance to relax and do some nothing for a while as well as to regroup and plan for the next stages of the big trip. We enjoyed the pool with the view over the lake, and spent the first day or so in full relax mode, which made a nice change.

After a day or two of relaxing, we did get out and about to see some of the local attractions, and first on the list was a boat trip on the Hoa Binh Lake, overlooked by the resort. This involved a massive boat, with 2 tourists, a guide and a driver. We went to a floating fisherman's house, where we could inspect the fish farm set up that they have and go for a kayak around the little bay and islands that were there. It was a nice little bit of exercise after a couple of days where the most we had done was room-to-pool or room-to-restaurant. After putting the kayaks back on the boat, our guide Huynh was chatting to the fisherman who owned the place and offered for us to try their homemade plum wine (rice wine with plums soaking in it). Next thing you know, food started coming out of the little kitchen as we sat there with the fisherman and his brother, Hyunh and our boat driver. First was barbequed pork - delicious - then followed by roasted crickets. James decided that it would be a poor show of our appreciation of their hospitality to refuse them, so he had a couple. Gillian was less enthusiastic! When the (water cooler) bottle was finished, more booze appeared, including a fermented rice wine similar to the Korean drink, makgeolli. Another tour group came and went as we sat there drinking, and more food kept coming out of the kitchen (we had 4 or 5 different kinds of pork, basically, plus the crickets). At Gillian's insistence, the chef (wife of the fisherman, of course) came to join us and our tour eventually finished at 2.30 pm (scheduled finish time, 11.30am). The afternoon was spent sleeping it off, and there was no need for dinner either, after all the food we'd had. It was an entertaining, if dangerous, introduction to Vietnamese hospitality, and a salutary lesson in the perils of trying to keep up with locals who make their own booze...

The next day, after recovering surprisingly well, we were off on a full day tour of the Puluong region further up the mountains. It is home to a big national park, as well as some spectacular scenery, in particular views over the local farms, resulting in many photos of rice paddies cascading down the hillsides. We went walking through lots of the local villages and farming areas, and got an introduction to the comprehensive local agriculture. This included back paths through the farms and a visit to see some traditional bamboo water wheels, which are still used to pump water from the river into the rice paddies, using a simple, yet ingenious, system. They wear out after a year or so, but can be rebuilt in under two days by the locals. We walked back to the van over a bamboo bridge, which was nice and bouncy. Gillian was not a big fan...

Our other excursion from the resort was a bike ride through the town of Mai Chau itself, and the surrounding villages. It proved to be an excessively pleasant way to spend the afternoon, with the trusty Huynh guiding us around through his home town, conveniently located in a flat river valley. There was more spectacular scenery, as well as an introduction to elements of the local culture, including a weaving demonstration (on a loom somewhat simpler than the one we spotted at the Ethnology Museum in Hanoi). Huynh seemed to greet about every second person as we rode along, he obviously knows most of the people in the area. 

We had timed things pretty well with the weather, with our excursions not having any rain to speak of. However, during our stay there were some pretty spectacular storms, especially on our last couple of days. They were good days to pick to not do anything much, in anticipation of a lot more movement after departing. The rest managed to regenerate us somewhat, and we were ready to move on to further Vietnam adventures. Thanks to Cam, Clare, Kate, Kim, Dan and Tim for suggesting it... 

History and culture in Hanoi

We got the chance to educate ourselves a little about Vietnam during our time in Hanoi. On our wanderings through the city, we made our way to the Imperial Citadel - the old administrative centre of the city - which is quite close to the site of the current People's Assembly. It required skirting the Ministry of  Defence complex, and along the way we discovered that you can't walk along the street out the front of the 3 metre, barbed wire-topped wall, being unceremoniously ordered to cross the (busy, 4 lane) road by two guards at the entrance. There is little left of the original complex, as after the French took over, they repurposed the area as a barracks and administrative centre of their own. However, there is a bunch of restoration works in progress, and the display of a huge number of artefacts uncovered during archeological excavations, including pottery and decorative pieces that were 1000 years old and more. Only two of the old city gates remain, one of which still has damage from French cannonballs - left there to intimidate the population once the French took over.

Across the road is the ancient Forbidden City, which is a huge archeological dig, and the source of many of the treasures on display at the Citadel complex. It was fascinating to walk through, with nice interpretation of the finds and some attempts to show the size and complexity of the architecture that existed. It put James in mind of his visit, some years ago, to the Terracotta Warrior site in Xi'an, China, although it is not really quite on the same scale - and there aren't rows of fired clay soldiers to be found there. But the chance to walk through a "live" archeological dig feels pretty special, especially when it is has such significance for the people of Vietnam.

The Ethnology Museum was high on Gillian's list of places to visit, and required some research on how to navigate the bus system in Hanoi. We were the only foreigners on the bus we caught, and the conductor was not best pleased when we only had big banknotes to pay for the very cheap fare. That ended up in a free ride, which made us feel bad... The museum itself was fascinating, highlighting the diverse cultural and ethnic groups across the country, with detailed descriptions of origins, culture and the areas in which they are found. The government recognises 54 separate groups and (naturally, given the location) they come from a wide array of origins. There were a bunch of displays showing craftwork, tools and clothing, as well as several buildings built in the different styles of various ethnic groups. The differences were all fascinating. It was particularly interesting (and funny, in a juvenile sort of way) to see a traditional burial site surrounded by fertility symbology and carvings. Plus there was a pretty nice restaurant there for a late lunch once we were done...

During our stay in Hanoi, we also got to experience various different public music performances, especially through the Old Quarter as we wandered around in the evenings. These ranges from traditional opera (James was not impressed), to traditional music, to more modern music performed on a mix of traditional and other (think electric guitar) instruments. We even struck a public parade of police marching bands from countries around the region. It was interesting to note the sign announcing the "Campuchea" band - a name we hadn't heard for many years, but perhaps less uncommon in Vietnam than you would expect. 

And finally, we were able to see yet another difference in the practice of religion. Religion appears less prominent in everyday life in Vietnam, with (we guess) Buddhist temples tending to be smaller and more hidden to casual observation. The main sign of them on the street is the presence of shops selling ornaments and prayer sheets, often accompanied by a small (hot) fire, burning the prayers on the street (a common element of Buddhist practice). There are some exceptions - two we visited were the Confucian temple we visited in the lake on the edge of the Old Quarter (which was, until recently,  home to a unique species of turtle), and the Temple of Literature (also Confucian), which preserves the names (and grades!) of all the scholars passing the public service exams from 1076 to 1779. 

Our introduction to Hanoi

First of all, apologies for the slow post here. We've been a bit distracted. A teaser below, but more on that later...

Arrival into Hanoi was in the evening, and we had prearranged a car to take us into our hotel in the city. This turned out to be an adventure all on its own. We had our hotel booked in the old quarter, which has very narrow roads and is quite busy late into the night. It turns out, we were in "beer street", which is pretty much totally insane. The driver wasn't super impressed, the roads were clogged with people and restaurant tables and chairs and the whole thing was like a claustrophobia nightmare playing out in real life. We were dropped off with one big scratch left on the car from a table, and checked in after a few issues with finding the booking. The picture below was the typical night scene outside our hotel, we still don't know how we made it there in a car. It was an interesting introduction to Vietnam!

We ventured out early the next morning to find a totally different scene awaiting us. The old town during the day is less crazy and the opportunity to walk the back streets and watching everyday life unfolding is just fascinating. Watching newly arrived tourist trying to navigate the waves of people, traffic and heat also added to the fascination. It is hard not to wonder what the locals think of all the tourists, we suspect they also enjoy the people watching over their morning coffees. 

Hanoi is an interesting place, and the first really noticeable feature (at least in the centre part of the city) is the traffic. Crazy traffic is nothing new in Asian cities, with a whole bunch of motor scooters flying everywhere, of course. However, in the narrow streets of the old town a new element is added, especially when mixed with a variety of other traffic, including cars, buses, small tourist buses and jeeps, as well as bicycles and rickshaws ("cyclos"). There are vehicles moving in every direction, no quarter is given (and very little space) and crossing the road turns into an exercise in raw courage. We got the hang of it, more or less, and had at least a couple of breaks in coffee shops overlooking the road just to watch the traffic. The worst accident we saw was the scrape down the side of our car when we came in from the airport, and this is clearly due to a sophisticated sonar-based traffic flow management scheme. Everyone is constantly hitting the horn on their vehicle, not so much in anger as for position locating, and they then proceed to dive and duck around each other with unrealistic efficiency. Traffic signals mostly are just vague guidelines, and there are few lane markings (again, only guidelines). Somehow it all just works, although even after 3 days it still induced a lot of head shaking.

We spent most of our time moving around on foot, trying to get an "on the ground" feel for the place. The city is a fascinating place, with a clear European (French) influence with the buildings. There are many grand buildings, including the Presidential residence and the Opera House, but that influence is still clear on the ordinary residential buildings as well - although the do seem to be very narrow, which was perhaps just a function of the part of the city that we were staying in. Further out from the Old and French quarters, the city has a more modern feel, although the traffic remains mostly the same (just slightly less crowded!). 

And of course, Gillian insisted on getting a picture outside the National Assembly building. Unfortunately plans for a tour were derailed due to the impending celebration of the 80th anniversary of the "Successful August Revolution". Which had the Assembly building (and Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum) closed during our stay.

Naturally, having arrived in a new country, we took full advantage of the new food (and drinks) on offer. Coffee in Vietnam is a different thing from anywhere else we have been. Even a straight black coffee has a distinctive taste, which is partly due to the fact that they use predominantly robusta beans, and then roast them with ingredients like sugar and butter. It gives a chocolatey/caramel flavour which is quite distinctive - and that James approves of. They also have new variations on the coffee preparation, including salt coffee (topped with whipped salted cream) and egg coffee (topped with beaten eggs, sugar and condensed milk). Both of these would be easy to dismiss, but they're actually really tasty, and the egg coffee could almost be treated as breakfast in a glass. 

We couldn't resist doing a guided food tour, which was a very worthwhile experience. Our guide, "Rik", introduced us to a variety of street food around the Old Quarter, from long established businesses, often run by multiple generations of the same family who live and work together. It was great to explore some places we never would have thought to visit, and see some of the traditional food on offer. as well as chat about daily life in Vietnam. The rest of our meals were a mix of street food and restaurants, with two meals a day being the default - if you're not counting the afternoon ice cream/iced tea combos. Of course, we tried the staples of banh mi and pho, but also a huge variety of other new and excellent food, trying to stick with traditional Vietnamese tastes as much as possible.