Moving South in Vietman

We woke up to clear weather and were on our Junk by 7:00 am, we were scheduled for a four hour cruise through Ha Long Bay. The harbor was full of thousands of boats from small fishing boats to three mast Junks that slept up to 35 passengers. Ours , the Hai Au Junk, was a day junk that had an upper viewing deck and a lower deck that served as a dinning room. We weaved our way out of the harbor being offered fresh fruit by ladies in small boats that came up along side. Before us, as far as we could see were mountain tops poking up through the water, each covered with green vegetation or sheer rock. Last year over 2.65 million people toured Ha Long Bay up 49% from 2007. It brought back memories of our sail down the Lee River in China two years ago. The Hai Au Junk was a junk, poorly maintained but adequately furnished and supplied for our purpose, we were here for the sights of Ha Long Bay.

Our first stop was at Surprise Cave, which required a climb of about 1,000 feet up to the entrance. The story is that a stranded fisherman found the cave when trying to escape the dangers of a fierce storm. The government has installed the steps and interior lighting to provide a Disney type attraction. At it’s peek over 5000 people per day take the Junk trip across the bay to tour the cave. Back on the Junk we sailed deeper into the harbor where we found numerous floating fishing villages. As the sun burnt off the haze the protruding peaks, green foliage , the blue sky and turquoise water painted a memorial picture of one of the most beautiful spots in the world.

This is a place that I would like to come back to; I’d like to spend three nights on one of the luxury junks, wake up to the sunrise, swim at secluded beaches, and have cocktails at the sunset.
We’re now back on the bus heading back to the Hanoi airport to catch our 6:00 pm flight to Hue.
Hue, pronounced Way, was the original capital of Vietnam and was thus the home of the kings of Vietnam. We toured the Citadel which reminded me of the Forbidden City in Beijing China. It’s not as grand. The Citadel was a victim of the Vietnam war as it change hands several times and thus was bombed and shelled by both the Viet Kong and the American forces. It’s currently under restoration through the efforts of UNESCO. When the works is done Hue will become a major tours attraction for Vietnam.

This afternoon Michael, Marcia Deb and I went to the tomb of the fourth king of Vietnam. It was a strange feeling because at times we were the only people on the grounds, it was almost as if we had discovered these ruins that were over 100 years old. The structures have received little maintenance over the past 100 years so we had to maneuver through fallen stones and broken walkways. There was no maps or instructions as to the location of the tombs of the past king or his empresses and concubines so it was our task to find and identify, I felt like a archeologists making a new find.

Hue is a much cleaner city then Hanoi I suppose because it is much smaller and less congested. We saw very few cars in Hue the primary means of transportation is motor scooters and bicycle, there are few stop lights so crossing the streets requires courage and luck. You must step into the street and allow the scooters drive around you as you move across the street with commitment.

On our way to Hoi An we stopped along side the road to see how the fishing people lived. They used a series of hand made nets that they threw into the water then maliciously pulled in to catch any fish that they might trap. They also showed us the traps that they used to catch crab, I tried their boat on for size and determined this was not a line of work for me.

Hoi An is an old city with a lot of character, it reminded me of Key West. It’s located about three miles inland from the China Sea with a river connecting the sea and the city. The cities architecture consists of one and two story buildings with tile roofs and stucco walls. All the buildings have been converted into shops or restaurants. Most of the shops deal in tailored clothing or some other of fabric/ clothing sales. The restaurant and bar scene is just like Key West, lively, wide open and colorful. We eat at Cargo Wednesday night and had cocktails, salad, tenderloin steak with vegetables, and desert all for $33.00 a comparable meal in Birmingham would have been $70.00 plus.

That after noon Michael, Marcia and I took a bike ride from our hotel to the beach and I we enjoyed a beer at the beach and a dip in the China Sea. Our morning was spent on a trip to a 4th. Century Champa ruin. These are the people that ruled this land to include Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand until they went extinct as a result of all the wars that fought and lost resulting in the far east as we know it today. The neat part of exploring in this part of the world is that many of the ruins are as if they were just discovered the month before. The country is in it’s stage of development that has allowed them to open the ruin and make them accessible but they haven’t been able to do much more then clear the vegetation from the structures, thus you get the feeling of being early to the scene of a significant discovery. You take pictures of stone carvings by pulling back vines knowing that you may be the only person on earth to have recorded an image of a 1600 year old stone carving. It may not be fact but it’s a cool thought for me to carry home.

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