We are now travelling at the speed of light and having loitered for months and slurped machiato capos for hours we now don't have time to lose. There is the rest of the world to see in 6 weeks...now money is no object and we book flights like a deranged Howard Hughes! The next leg of our journey takes us to Hanoi via Manila and Kuala Lumpur with one night at the posh stop airport hotel KL - The Pan Pacific hotel and resort. Lush, deep pile carpets usher you to delicious food outlets desirous of your complete satisfaction...and they have our undivided attention.
Next morning to Hanoi, we arrive late in the evening minus one visa that didn't arrive on the web. Fantastic levels of beaurocracy not witnessed for a while ending with a large bung to a spotty official to secure Fo's visa...great fun and bunging officialdom in frightening green army uniforms in the full glare of security cameras...a real treat!
Our first alloted hotel, whilst charming turns out to be cut with infestations of bed bugs and also the things three up in the food chain that eat the things that eat the things that eat bed bugs. They are big, red, like aphids and impossible to crush
so we move to another hotel after Fo has given the VERY young manager a total ear lashing.
Hanoi is full of charm, oozes character from every shop to street vendor but they don't overly bother you. I don't know what I expected but the million smiling faces atop a million (4 actually) scooters zipping along streets and across junctions with no rational order is just exciting in itself. The Old town of Hanoi is where it all happens and food is eaten all day, everywhere and out of everything that holds noodles in liquid, down to a plastic bag if you are on the scooter, farming a mobile call, talking to the next person with a 10 foot high stack on the back with the rest of the family! There is not an angry face and no disputes in the scooter circus, a slight misunderstanding is cause for a smile and a swerve, not a whiff of road rage.
It is difficult not to fall in love with the town and the people. They have endured a lot in their recent history (not least of all having the French all over them like a rash telling them how to run their country - tres amusant) but all this is forgotten by the incredibly young population who are part of the massive post war baby boom encouraged by the all knowing ones to up the population. And so they have. Up from 50 million or so after WWII to 90 million now...OMG!
Day trips: Earth dwellers are randomly picked by some heavenly force and thrown together in the back of a mini-bus early in the morning, blearily acknowledging that somehow fate has brought them together....and it must be for a purpose. The magnanimous company of the beautiful Swathee and her multi-talented husband Shyam was made even more exciting and fascinating by Barcelona's jewelry design guru and general whirlwind, the fabulous Isabel.
We set off for Nihn Binh and eventually the temples in Hu Lua, the old capital of Vietnam before it was transferred in 1010 to its present spot. From here Mark, Swathee, Shyam and the guide trundled off on inadequate bikes (no brakes), lifted from their owners 10 seconds earlier and set off through the gorges in the midday sun whilst the cool gang tootled off in the mini-bus, the disparate groups rendezvousing in Tam Coc later. A memory from Tam Coc will stick in the mind for a good while. Being rowed through the mistyly mysterious limestone gorge of Tam Coc by the friendliest couple from a riverside stilt house, without falter, and then swapping national songs in a chorus heard right through the gorgeous gorge was a wonderful experience, even if I did subject them to a wobbly version of Streets of London (remember Bayreuth 1973 older chums?). We exchanged photographs of children and they rowed us overweight Europeans 8kms through the vast gorge and sold us hand woven and embroidered linen for sale from a freezer box on board the floating half melon. A wonderful moment was shared between the four of us, and friends and family will be able to share this moment through their Christmas gifts made by the couple's own fair hands.
Worlds, both earthly and celestial were put to rights and an appreciation of each others company extended to Van Minhs Jazz Club later in the evening where cocktails and dinner were consumed with fun and verve, to the accompliment of fine sax tones.
Halong bay is to the north of Hanoi and a good three hours by mini bus. Large limestone columns thrust to the heavens from the bay and there are many of them covering 200km2. We have tree days and two nights (on a junk in the bay followed by a hotel on Cat Ba island} and our shipmates turn out to be an incredible group consisting of:
Grupo Australiano - Neha, Sejal, Shefali (3 sisters) and Lizzie (sister incluido)
Grupo Malaysiano - three sisters and a daughter to one of the ladies
Grupo Croatiano - Senad (olive oil wrestler), Isa, Helena and Mum (unpronouncable name)
Grupo Ingles - Mark and Fo
Guide - very randy (girl in every junk) - Ho An
'One big happy family' was Ho An's adage although I think this referred mainly to his desire for concubines from wherever they may fall from the heavens. The scenery was heavenly although my image of a small fleet of junks pootling around the dramatic scene turned out to be the biggest flotilla to gather in a small bay since the D-Day landings. It was also misty which added to the mystique of the area. Kayaking, swimming and cycling around Cat Ba island with a trip to a typical Vietnamese village felt as carefree as Swallows and Amazons but the highlight of the trip was sitting with a tea in the old village whilst Ho An gave us a brief history and personal diatribe on Vietnam, past and present...all tinged with such a sense of humour that it was charming in the extreme, where tragedy was humour and struggle honourable. A sense of pride in the struggle (against allcomers) is probably the best way to describe it.
Well after this trip we found ourselves marvellously entangled with Grupo Croat and Grupo Aus. Two more trips to the Jazz club and then a trip to Hoi An where we spent a great few days with the gorgeous Neha, Sejal, Shefali and Lizzie. Hoi An is the centre of all things tailored; suits, shirts, silk dresses all hand made in 24 hours or less. A World heritage site, due to the stunning old quarter, which actually was under about two feet of water until the day before we left. The rains were interminable but the fun incessant. A great spot to stay and chill, charming people with infinite patience in the face of ludicrous deadlines...
Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) bought us together again with the Grupo Aus and we had a really stupendous last day of wanton pleasures (food and the finest wines available to man) in the New World Hotel, Executive Suite, which will never quite be the same quiet refuge that it previously was.
We finally say goodbye and leave HCMC for Siem Reap and Angkor Wat. Vietnam is a fabulous country and peoples...it is sad to leave with so much still to be revealed by the Viet people
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