Vietnam: Sapa

So, after another day in Hanoi, Ethan and I took the night train up to Sapa on a "3 day/4 night" trip. Sapa is known for it's beautiful terraced hills and the cool weather. It's a big rice producing area where six different ethnic groups live. Our trip basically consisted of a partial day of trekking, staying overnight in a hotel, then two more days of trekking, staying overnight in a village homestay, with another overnight train back to Hanoi. The Sapa area is most busy in the summer when the weather is much warmer around the rest of the country and we didn't fair all that well as it was foggy for most of the time. But still a good trip. Here are some photos.

Yeah, so I think I mentioned it was pretty foggy.


First day visit into a village. I think a family of 7 or 8 live here with not much more room than what you see here. It's pretty typical for girls to get married around 15 and have kids by 16 or 17.


Finally seeing some rice fields


An hillside view of a school

Picture from the 2nd day of a water buffalo

Our guide, Du (sounds like Zhu), uber small

Kick ass rice fields

Yeah, that's still me.

I guess there is no Home Depot here.

The calm before the storm.

Check out the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7z2wFPMcnYY

Kids at play...sort of. Ethan and I were pretty sure that's poo that they're getting ready to throw at us.

Dinner at our homestay. Maybe the best meal I had in Vietnam.

He didn't like my goatee too much and I luckily stopped him from burning it off. But he didn't really mean any harm.

Dog and Buffalo...Isn't that a Heart song?

A little better visibility the next day.

And we had to use the shitty bridge.

See, I told you she was uber small. That's Du on the far right.

One last shot of the terraced rice fields.

Vietnam: Halong Bay

After a day in Hanoi, Ethan and I headed to Halong Bay a UNESCO Heritage Site designated such due to it's boundless beauty and magnificence, or something like that. No, really, it was cool. We headed out of Halong City on a junk, went to a big ass cave, putted around the islands, went swimming, stayed the night on the junk where we learned what the name meant ("What's that scratching noise?" "Oh, just the rats"), spent the next day kayaking with our lazy as shit guide, and spent the night in a nice hotel in Cat Ba. The islands of Halong Bay are officially numbered at 1969. There are actually more, but that was the year Ho Chi Minh died, so they gave that number as the official count. Okay, here are pics from Halong Bay.

A view of the jumble of boats at the harbor

Another view as we're leaving

Over the bow and through the islands

Saw quite a few of these, many trying to sell us stuff. Man, if I had a nickel for every time I've heard "You buy something?" or "You buy from me?"

Island pics, the weather was a little crappy, mostly overcast.

Inside the big ass cave. It was well lit with walkways, which sort of took from some of it's mystery.

Me, trying to sell the cave.

The back-up of junks dropping people off and picking people off. Luckily this was by far the most congested area we encountered.

Our room was ok, beside the rats and the lack of power.

Upstairs wasn't too bad either, especially after we took control of the Karaoke machine. I think I have a future career. Regardless of what contrary proof Wes may have.

Sun setting, sort of.

Next day, I think.

Fishing village. Some of these people hardly ever step on Terra firma.

Fish farm.

Fishermen.

Lunch on the beach after kayaking. The kayaking was pretty cool and I saw the biggest jellyfish thing ever. I didn't take my camera with me in the kayak though.

Our smaller second day junk.

Gourmet lunch on the beach.

View from our hotel roof out at the bay at Cat Ba.

Disembarking for the bus ride back to Hanoi. I almost said home, but Hanoi is definitely not home.

Vietnam: Hanoi

Ok, it's been a while and I don't think I can sit and recount all of Vietnam at once so I'll do it in chunks. First is Hanoi. Ethan and I arrived by plane from Vientiene on the 2nd of March and did a couple of trips to Halong Bay and Sapa (to be covered in other posts) while based out of Hanoi.

Even though we got off on sort of a wrong foot, almost got scammed by a taxi driver from the airport, I liked Hanoi. It has some character, maybe a mix of rough and soft. All the crazy scooter traffic (but I hear Saigon is twice as bad) contrasted to the french type buildings and tree-lined avenues. Anyway, we stayed there a total of about 4 or 5 days and here are some pictures from Hanoi.

Crap, I almost forgot about the noise. I guess I'm getting used to it. Honking, non-stop honking. Luckily the city/town shuts down pretty good around 10 pm or so and quiets down, but it all starts up again in the morning around 6 am. Loud and obnoxious.

So to start this off, you can view this little video of an intersection crossing in Hanoi:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0Rxp0o5X1w

Temple in the center of a lake in the Old Quarter

Stuffed Tortoise and little girl in lake temple

Another temple at lake's edge

Scooter parking

Ho Chi Minh Museum

And Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. And we did see his embalmed corpse and it was weird, very weird.

Old fighter jet

Me and Stalin, two peas in a pod

Nightlife in Hanoi is fraught with danger. Dodging scooters, trash fires, and jump roping girls.

Picture from Museum of Ethnology (or, as Ethan would like to think it should be called, Ethanology)

52 distinct ethnic groups in Vietnam. Here are a couple of the types of dwellings one might encounter when visiting one of said 52 ethnic groups.

Tomb....hmm what are those carvings of people doing???

Ahh...boom boom.

Good ole' uncle Ho.

Ho Chi Minh's original home moved from his village to Hanoi

Hard at work

Some weird bird thing

Mmm...Grilled pig's prick

Typical side street in Hanoi