halong bay. vietnam. march 16th – 17th. 2009

The beautiful limestone karsts are the draw to this UNESCO World Heritage site. Like everywhere else in SE Asia, our only option to get there is through a guided tour, which in this situation is a good thing, since neither of us can operate or sail a boat! Our boat tour options were numerous and we settle on a recommended tour company who’s fleet accommodate up to 12 passengers per junk boat for a 2 day, 1 night visit. We are about to board and all is well up to this point, until our tour guide asks all passengers to hand over their passports for them to hold on to for the duration of the tour. I immediately refuse to do this and continue to have a disagreement with our tour guide as to why I do not want be without my passport. Basically, I was told if we refuse to turn over our passports  then we cannot go on the boat. He reassured me it would be safe and we would get them back when we leave the boat the next day. So relunctantly, we hand them over and board to begin our tour. Later, as we are on our way to the bay, we found out that one of the other tour operators had all of the passports on one of the other boats!!This infuriated me, but I stayed calm, and hoped just for the best. That was our first hurdle to overcome, which I recognize is my own issue. Not that I necessarily distrusted them in this situation, but it is my passport and my responsibility, and I can’t keep it safe, if I don’t have it. Anyways, I let it go and wasn’t going to let it affect my mood for the trip. And just as I was finding my zen with this, a fellow passenger starts arguing with the tour guide. She is clearly distraught with her situation, which we figured out through their discourse, was because she had to share her sleeper cabin with a stranger who was male. The boat had sleeper cabins that had two single beds each and I believe only 1 private cabin with 1 single bed. After much more discussion, and the tour guide offering no effort to find a reasonable solution, nothing was resolved and she was still clearly distraught at her predicament. The simple solution would have been for the gentleman who had the single cabin, to offer it up to her, but he wanted nothing to do with it whatsoever. So, us being the kind Canadians we are, and me being my Libra self needed to find a solution for this situation. It didn’t take Laurel and I too long to offer up a possible solution. Which was for us to split up for the night. The Lady could sleep in our cabin with Laurel, and I would sleep in her cabin with the strange man. She was happy with this solution and we were happy that we could finally move on and start to enjoy this visit to Halong Bay.

The day was foggy, but it added to the atmosphere of this serene and beautiful place. It also provided a sort of blanket that masked the over population of boats around us. The views are spectacular and vast as we weave our way through the bay and eventually dock, as do all the other boats, to visit the colourfully lit up Thien Cung Cave. After some time docked, we board the boat and get ready to spend the night back on the water. The night is calm, the sky is as dark as can be. Then sleep. The next day, the fog is again heavy in its cover, providing a picturesque backdrop of translucent layers, gradually disappearing into the distance. We make our way back to town and are handed back our passports as we deboard the boat. I learned a lot about myself on this short trip. Maybe learned isn’t the right word, maybe reaffirmed is more appropriate. I won’t get into the details of my self reflecting, but I'll just say it’s all positive.

laurel's halong bay photos on flickr
stephen's halong bay photo's on flickr

w r i t t e n  b y  s t e p h e n

hanoi. vietnam. march 10th – 16th. 2009

An overnight sleeper bus from Hue. A grey and drizzly dawn, with stories of taxi and hotel rooms seems active in our minds we opt to walk again,  packs and all. Not quite as far this time, Hanoi is still asleep and our walk, fairly calm. Overpriced hotels finds us in a decent enough place, but a tiny room on the 6^th floor. Hanoi is not what I expected. It is narrow streets, low buildings, few traffic lights, bustling and chaotic, but somehow in a laid back way. It is a big sprawling, confusing city that lacks a lot of the glaring lights, booming music and ads that have somehow become trademarks of an urban environment. It is cooler and grey here, but I know Stephen welcomes both and it veils the city even more. We wander out mostly for food. Like any big city, there is a large span of prices and choices. We discover (NAME OF RESTAURANT) early on and definitely frequent it most often. Closest in our room, this restaurant is airy, quiet (it is on the 3^rd floor), full of windows and somewhere that we can linger for a few hours. We wander another day and end up close to a site called the Temple of Literature, so we decide to make our way there. Lack of intention aside, there are several other things that make our random encounter there seem exceptional. The admission almost deterring us, taking a path through other then the main and crowded ones, I hear a woman say hello and I  am aware that she is talking to me. I know I recognize her, but am racking my brain to remember how, when she says ‘Nelvana?’, then I realize it is Jackie. Someone I haven’t seen in 10 years since she left Toronto for Hong Kong and who I had no idea as to where she was now. It turns out she is living in Hanoi, with her Husband (!) and she is only at the temple today showing her in-laws around. We make plans to try and contact one another before we leave for Hong Kong ourselves. I hope to meet and catch up. Timing really is everything and I really look forward to the opportunity to reconnect. The only other thing we do in Hanoi meet with a girl named Chi, a young woman living in Hanoi who befriended someone we know from Toronto traveling in Vietnam last summer. She takes us to the Ethnology Museum and we realize at the end of the day that we would have preferred to just hang out with her in a more personal environment. It was nice of her to hook up with us, especially on the word of our friend. I think we had enough of tourist environments and didn’t appreciate the museum (and cost) as a result. That said we are still drawn to Halong Bay and leave Hanoi for 1 ½ days to go spend a night.

laurel's hanoi photos on flickr

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hue. vietnam. march 5th – 9th. 2009

An overnight train, quiet, relaxed. Sunrise over the beautiful landscape that is Vietnam. Cooler climates and in your face moto drivers greet us as we disembark from the train. A LONG stubborn walk towards the hotels. Exasperated by an environment that doesn’t give you a moment to breathe, think or get your bearings. Then something extraordinary, I leave Stephen with the packs and go in search of a room. We settle in to our temporary home here in Hue, a place in a small alley just off a main street. The burdens of travel seem to be weighing heavily at the moment and we are put off by the constant cajoling for a taxi ride or a room. That night we find a nice Japanese restaurant for a quiet meal and check out (photographer café) where we find info, beautiful photos and a hospitable host. Armed with a map, we wander the next day across the bridge to see the Forbidden Purple City and a different part of town. Then the next day another surprise, we bump in to Rik and Mirjam at lunch! We had made plans to meet them here, but this was an earlier than expected rendez-vous. We have been just missing each other through all of Cambodia and Vietnam and we finally co-ordinated a day together in the same city, we all part ways, Stephen and I wander and book a tour for the next day. Too early a start the next morning, larger than expected group and boat for the Perfume River boat tour. We keep to ourselves and do our best not to feel rushed. Visits to a pagoda, royal tombs and many photos later, we realize the ‘see as much as you can in as little time as possible’ is just not our thing, we could have spent all day at 1 tomb and on the water, a really enjoyable evening with Rik and Mirjam catching up on all of our travels since Tibet. We part ways again tomorrow, they for Laos, we to Hanoi. It was nice to see friends and escape the heat of the last couple of months, tomorrow we head further north, Hanoi.

laurel's hue photos on flickr

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saigon. vietnam. february 28th – march 4th. 2009

Another place I have been drawn to for a long time. When last we were in south east Asia 9 years ago, my thoughts were of (now) Ho Chi Minh city (but it has always been Saigon to me (pronounces Shai-gon) and is still in the minds and hearts of most). We arrive after dark and are taken to the backpacker tourist area, but it is not so cheap. We settle on a room for the night, but thankfully find a far more airy one for the rest of our stay. We do little here, spend most of our time eating, walking around our area and chilling out. Our biggest adventure was going to the train station to buy our tickets. It really was an adventure though, we took a cab there, but it was a long walk back, through narrow streets back to huge intersections and it gave us a feel for the dichotomy that is Saigon. We decide to wander to an area north of our hotel, along the water, through the glitzier tourist area, past the open house. Visits to the night market, three different vegetarian restaurants, fruit stands, the circle K were punctuated with a visit to the Independence Palace, the old post office and a juice bar Monika had told us about. The rest of our time was spent eating within a block of our hotel, or next door where we met two sisters, born in Hanoi, working at this restaurant. It was hidden off the street , quiet and pretty unfrequented, a lovely respite from the rest of our street and really lovely conversation with these two women. The Saigon I had imagined? I’m not really sure. My focus seems elsewhere and Vietnam is falling through the cracks. I think both Stephen and I were getting tired of the tourism industry, how people traveling though South East Asia get funneled through and have little interest in taking the time to travel Vietnam another way. Our compromise? Only I stop on the way north to Hanoi, and we forgo the cheaper tourist bus circuit and take an overnight train.

laurels' saigon photos on flickr

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can tho. vietnam. february 27th – 28th. 2009

A small settlement in the Mekong delta. Just over 24 hours here. Spectacular floating markets, the draw . We discover another vegetarian restaurant, check emails, and organize our day on the Mekong.  5:30am start. Don’t remember if Stephen even slept! Sunrise was not dramatic, but really beautiful to watch dawn creep above the banks of the Mekong. Just the two of us and our driver. We arrive at the first floating market, which is bustling and captivating, but seems more active with photographing then with a thriving trade. It is a unique and textured environment and it is nice to share it with Stephen in a quiet, not as part of a larger group. The next stop, a vermicelli making shop and we seem to have connected with another small group for the rest of our day. A female boat driver and two young women. We dock and walk through a field, past a pen of pigs to the shop. I will let the photos speak for themselves. A quick stop for drinks, the 3 women are a lot of fun and I am glad we are travelling in tandem. Back on the water we see more of the settlements now that it is late here, make our way to the second market. The rest of the afternoon is quiet meandering through the waterways of the delta, lush vegetation, sedate communities ‘monkey’ bridges. The driver from the other boat weaves origami cricket bracelets out of grass! For her passengers and me. She is full of spirit, while being laid back and seemingly genuine. A final stop for fruit and the journey back to our hostels. Waiting to catch our ride from the hostel, I see the face in the wall. We leave the Mekong today and enter Saigon.

laurel's can tho photos on flickr

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