So, that was about it

Jan and I drank beer hoi (extremely cheap beer, but pretty good) chatted, and people watched for the rest of the afternoon until it was time for him to catch his bus (he was continuing on a mad trip down to saigon, 30+ hours by bus but with some stops as i understand it, leaving that evening. ah, to be young again.) I had a nice meal, had my clothing washed, walked around a little and ate some more ice cream, and generally took it easy. set up my flight for the next day. I had already missed my flight back to the states, but I wasn't prepared to spend my birthday in vietnam. Really, I had had enough.

Jan eating fried rice and drinking beer at the cafe in Lao Cai

Anyway, we saved money not flying by helicopter or riding on a motorcycle.

picture of ding in his cafe

The crazy australian guys bought motorcycles and planned to ride to hanoi and then ship their bikes back to australia. But I was thrilled to be getting back on the train. Nice, comfortable sleepers with air con. yay! there was some uncertainty about it, but it seemed fairly hopeful. with all western roomates, I went to sleep feeling fairly confident...

And woke up in almost the same place that the 1st train had stopped. This time we were in a tiny, tiny town. A second train stopped behind us and we all waited. no one could tell us any news, but all of the bathrooms were soon not working. which wasn't that big of a deal, since the only food was ramen soup and the same chips and marshmallow cookies that I had been primarily living on for days. so we were stopped in the middle of nowhere with no one telling us anything. the train employees literally ran away if we started to ask them anything. I walked around the area, and there was really nothing, no stores, no interesting buildings, no views, nothing nothing nothing. 2 of the people we were sharing the room with (a german guy and an american woman) had had enough, and they joined the many people who were paying locals with motorbikes to drive them the 25 km to the next town to catch a bus. I had finished my mirakami book, so i gladly borrowed jan's english language book. it was by the guy who wrote the kite runner, which i won't read, but it was mildly entertaining and I read the 400+ pages that day. at one point, they thought they might leave soon and locked the train doors so no one could leave but they had also locked the bathrooms, which was disturbing. finally they unlocked the overflowing toilets, which was neccesary, but horrible. But still we waited. We stayed there all day, until 10 when I finally was getting ready to sleep, feeling miserable and totally defeated. And then the train started to move. There was applause and happy yelling from both trains. went to sleep feeling positive. when i woke up we were almost there. chatted with an australian guy about his plans for some new kind of homeowner loan in australia, and was so happy to get off that train. Jan and I ignored the overpriced taxi rides and stretched our legs, walking first to his hotel, then mine where i paid him back. I checked in, took a shower and a nap, then met jan and the german guy for Xoi.

more escape from Sapa

Anyway, by some miracle I was able to get some sleep in that ridiculous van. Maybe I got 4 hours, maybe not. Woke up in time to watch the sun, or the gray, come up in the morning and walk around a little. We were on some ratty little dirt road with rice farms all around us. After waiting for a few hours, a troupe of local hill tribe girlscame by with shovels and a pack of buffalo, I guess to clear the road. It was fun to see that - I was surprised that they were wearing traditional clothes - I had really assumed they just wore it for the tourists at this point, but there you go. And for good measure, another bulldozer showed up soon after (I had heard that the previous bulldozer got covered in a mudslide). And after an hour or so, on we went! and the sun came out! I was very optimistic and said, foolishly, "this is the day we make it to Hanoi!" So we drove about 15 minutes to the next town (we could have walked that in an hour i think, if it wasn't dark and absurdly dangerous.) And our long haired vietnamese leader, Ding, discovered that the roads were all washed out. And the town was lousy with tourists. we managed to get a floor to sleep on, and were promised a hot shower. with that relatively ok news, I started to drink beer with an Irish couple, while most of my fellow travellers napped. that was fun, and we could find some restaurants with a few things other than ramen noodles, which was great. i can't express how wonderful it was to eat vegetables. but word on the street was that the town was running out of supplies. Ding was calling all his contacts to find a route that was open, and we were getting snippets of news throughout the day. Was able to get to the internet and send a few emails, mostly to let my mom know i was alive, since i wasn't sure how much news was getting back to the us about this. Before bed, Ding told us his plan to get to hanoi, which involved doubling the price, and driving for 28 hours, or some such thing. Ugh. I went to sleep, sharing a full sized mattress with 2 other guys about my size. It was such a major step up from the night before, I was happy to have that.

Got up the next morning, and even the 28 hour trip wouldn't get us to Hanoi. Roads everywhere were gone, there was no hope. Just go back to Lao Cai before the town we were in ran out of food and water, which we were told would happen that day. But it was sunny, I could finally kind of dry my soaking smelly clothes and at least I could get a hotel room in Lao Cai, maybe. Of course, Ding still expected to be paid his 1/2 million dong for this crazy little trip and my money was still in a safe in Hanoi. Oi. The ding dong jokes were being made. These Mit students in our van, who seemed to have unlimited access to cell phone minutes had had enough, and eventually shelled out 1200 us dollars to take a helicopter to hanoi. I heard that they left that night. It would have been cool to take a helicopter in vietnam, really cool I think given the history but not 1200 dollars cool.

So I went back to Lao Cai. Nice to be able to use the internet at my leisure and sit and drink a needed beer. Finally got a refund from my initial train ticket which allowed me to pay back Jan for the spending money he had lent me. Also found a western union and started trying to work to get mom to send me $$ through them. Just when I was thinking about a hotel, Ding showed up again and said that one of his contacts had tickets on a sleeper train that would leave that night. Joy! 300,000 dong was borrowed from jan, and we happily drank beer, ate, and waited until 10 pm.

sapa 3

I stole this photo from Jan's facebook page, hopefully he won't mind.

So, I made it back to the comfort of the hotel. And waited. Ate some more mediocre food and had a beer with some Australian guys. Finally, we hit the road to Lao Cai. I had a big bottle of water, a few snacks, and about 40,000 dong ($2.50). I had planned perfectly. When I got in the room for the ride back, I was happy to see an actual mattress (I don't know why) and all foreign roomates. 2 girls from Quebec and a young dutch guy named Jan. I had a few million dong waiting for me back in Hanoi - I was excited for a few relaxing days, buying a few gifts and seeing a few sites I hadn't had a chance to see. I went to sleep feeling comfortable and happy, with silent, respectful roomates...

And I slept very well. But when I woke up, we had only travelled about 20 km. The tracks had been washed out and there was no way through. We were woken up and told to get out of the train. It was a mess in the train station with people pushing and yelling trying to get $ back. Finally they closed all of the ticket windows. No one was saying anything. I was still hanging around with Jan and the girls, we weren't really sure what to do. Then we turned around and the girls were gone. Jan and I noticed some people getting on a train and we headed on and back to Lao Cai. We sat on hard wooden seats, surrounded by smokers and watched the flood go by. Saw at least one dead cow float by in the river that was practically touching the tracks. Made it back to Lao Cai and tried to line up again to get $$$ back. Lots of pushing, which I'm good at. Cop told me to get out of the line and pointed outside. "Where should I go?" More pointing and impatient attitude. I'm not looking to mess with vietnamese police so i went. where? I don't know? It's raining hard and I'm not sure what to do. Jan and I ended up back at this restaurant where we met the vans that took us to the hotel. A long haired vietnamese guy, "Ding" starts talking about how he's getting vans together, for only 1/2 million dong. Which is fine, but I have 40000. uh oh. But he says I can pay when we get to hanoi, no problem. We wait a long time and finally jump into vans (I refuse to get into the very back, explaining that i will vomit). I'm soaked by the time i get in (my shoes had already been soaked earlier, i'm wearing plastic sandals) and am lucky that this m.i.t. guy will lend me his dry shirt as the fans are running. We travel over terrible roads, floaded, parts washed away, rockslides covering the streets. I'm out of motion sickness medicine. ugh. finally we stop for dinner. at someones house on the side of the road. Ramen soup. And this guy's homemade rice wine. Which I'm tempted by - these australian guys are enjoying it a great deal, shouting and joking with the vietnamese guys without any shared language. But I weigh the carsickness possibility and decide to stick with the crappy soup. And some stale cookies I bought. yuck. when we are done (we've been waiting for the road to clear) we head out for a few more minutes. and stop again. the road is closed again. Drunk australians with no shirts or shoes run to help clear the road. Eventually they come back, minus the energy. i get to see one puke. nice. it's dark and raining hard. apparently mudslides have blocked us of in front and behind. we're trapped for the night in this tiny mini van, basically a typhoon outside, all the seats are full, and we have to open the door for some fresh air. But I'm next to the door, so it's raining on my feet. I'm hoping no mudslides come in the van. or malaria carrying insects. Oi. And my shoulder is banging into the spanish guy next to me (luckily a couple, so they can get closer and give me some room). Somehow, I managed some sleep, in the middle of nowhere.

sapa day 2

So, there was supposed to be a typhoon coming but we heard it was going to miss us. Still, it was raining a lot, and it just kept getting harder throughout the day. The path we were walking on was flooded, and mudslides had covered large portions of the path. Very unsafe, but they must not worry about lawsuits in Vietnam. I assume it's impossible to get damages from people and life is cheap. Saw one vietnamese guy almost sent over a cliff by the crazy water we had to pass through. Anyway, I'm glad to have survived. We cut the trek a little short and headed back to the hotel in a van (except for the guys who were lost for about 4 hours. saw them later). My new shoes were pretty messed up and my socks were turned permanently brown by the mud.

oxen

This guy sprayed some mud at me. Damn joker cows.

Sapa pics

Here is a pic of some of the hill tribe girls and others climbing some stairs, plus me trying on a hat in the large market in town. The girls tend to latch on to the tour groups of tourists, occasionally talk to us and try to sell little doodads and whatnots. I ended up buying that hat, which i think will be a good weight for taiwan. The style of those hill tribe things (they were mostly black hmong, by the way) has been appropriated by the hippies in america, but I think some of it is pretty nice. I bought a blanket (to use as a mattress on the train ride back) and a collared shirt, as well as the hat and some other gifts. They were very cheap, just a few us dollars (i think the hat was about $3) and I planned my money perfectly (almost).

Sapa 1

I got back to Hanoi from Halong and immediately set out to find some other interesting place to go. The other top destination in the north is Sapa, a mountainous former french outpost filled with various local hill tribes, a stone's throw from the chinese border. But nobody speaks chinese.

To get there, I took an overnight train. The guy who sold me the ticket told me the cheaper 6 person sleeper room was pretty much the same as the 4 person room. But he is a damn, stinking liar. I curse his parentage. My room was filled with cigarette smoking (despite the no smoking sign) radio listening, loud talking vietnamese guys who really didn't give a **** that I was in the room with them. And the beds had no cushion at all - just a piece of wood with a bamboo mat (see pic). Having been on a sleeper in India, I wasn't expecting that much. But let's just say it wasn't a comfortable night. Most annoying was the volume of the guys' conversation. At about 330 in the morning one of them got up for the bathroom and decided it was a good time to have a little conversation with his friend, REALLY LOUDLY!!!! I'm not exagerating when I say it actually hurt my ears. I understand that I'm a guest in their country and all, and I just let it all go, but in my heart I was basically torturing them to death. And when 4 AM rolled around and the radio went back on, playing my favorite vietnamese pop tunes, I had had about enough. I just stood outside of the room and watched the sunrise from the aisle way.

We arrived in Lao Cai about 6 AM and hopped on a bus which took us up a winding road for about an hour to Sapa. My hotel was ok - the incredible humidity had turned my room a bit green and the mildew smell was strong, but there was a big bed and a bathtub. I would have been happy to take a bath and sleep for a while, but I went on my little tour first (after waiting around for a couple of hours - everything here was poorly planned and no one could tell anyone any info other than sit and wait). The tour was fun - went to some hill tribes and a big central market. The women were all still dressed in the traditional clothes for the tourists but happily chatting away on cell phones. The men just wore t-shirts. It was nice and cool most of the time, but humid and we were walking up steep hills, so I was quickly soaked. Saw some waterfalls, ate some lemongrass satay and drank some homemade apple wine for a lunch time snack. Bought some random textiles and made our way back to the hotel about 1 for a full lunch. Which was ok but included in the package. I was watching my money, so I didn't go out for possibly more exciting food. And then I finally took a bath and slept. Which was great, despite the lumpy bed.

Woke up for more unexciting dinner and went out to walk around the town of Sapa by myself. I was very rainy and foggy, but nice and cool which was a pleasant break from Hanoi. Also kind of quiet. And the old french church rang bells that echoed nicely. Only got offered drugs and prostitutes once and I enjoyed my walk. Made my way home for more sleep.

ethnography museum2

Here are 2 of my favorite buildings from behind the museum.

The 1st was extremely high, and a shape that really appeals to me. Might keep things cooler in the hot summer, I don't know, I bet there is some practical reason for that design, but anyway I think it looks cool.

The second is a mausoleum surrounded by erotic art. Whichever tribe likes to put statues of people having sex, pregnant women, and other funny things around the departed. I think I would really like that, at least while I'm alive it would make me laugh to think of my dirty, dirty Sarcophagus. Probably once I'm dead I wouldn't care a whole lot.

All around this back area, there was a couple taking wedding photos. People in Taiwan also go around with a photographer to famous beautiful spots, dressed in the wedding clothes, making a photo album before the wedding. It's interesting, but I feel bad for them, wearing so many clothes when it's 35+ Celsius and humid. Strangely, while I sweat like crazy in shorts and a tshirt, they seem to have no problem.

ethnography museum1

One of the other highpoints in Hanoi was the Ethnography museum. I especially loved the houses built behind the museum showing the different building styles of the different tribes in Vietnam. It's too bad we only had an hour at this place, maybe too much time for the other people there, but not enough for me to wander around those houses to my heart's content. I like these statues, especially the 2nd one from left which I think is the spitting image of GW.

ho chi min

I made a point of doing tourist things in hanoi. I took a tour and we saw this place, Ho Chi Min's mausoleum. They have preserved his dead body (against his wishes, he wanted to be cremated), and I walked by to take a look. Also saw his house, pretty simple which I liked. His cars weren't too great, Russian cars. Seeing Chiang Kai Chek's cadillacs, you have to say picking the American side was a good choice, car wise. That Lotus temple was next door to his house.

young rice ice cream

I enjoyed getting ice cream from this french style ice cream shop. My flavor of choice was young rice flavor. Later on my trip, I had the opportunity to eat some raw rice from inside the plant. Very sweet and interesting. And this ice cream tasted like that. Sort of like rice, but more so.

xoi #2

And here it is, in a "to go" box. You can see the meat is pretty fatty, cut off a big roast piece. You can also see that the portion isn't huge, but it's a good sized snack or about half of a large meal. I ate this several times. Now I need to find it here.

Xoi

Back in Hanoi, this is the most interesting restaurant I found. I followed the taiwanese tradition of going to the most popular place and this place was always hopping. Xoi, which I've never had before, was simple rice, with some thick yellow paste with a texture similar to polenta, I'm guessing some kind of bean, put on top. Then some meat (the pork was better, and cheaper, than the chicken), some fried shallots (those things are great, and everywhere in asia) and some oil (just oil) poured over the top. Yum. And very cheap, less than $1 us.

last one

I have a lot of photos from Halong Bay. Here is the sunset. I had a very nice time there, though it was only 2 days and 1 night. And I just did silly touristy stuff like the cave, went canoeing, climbed another mountain for a view. But it was relaxing and pretty nice. Not as much aggressive selling and you could just relax. After this sunset, I drank a couple of beers on the deck of the boat and looked at the stars. Chatted with some other passengers about nothing. Read a book in my cabin. Pretty good.

Nice, isn't it

This was a view after we came out of the cave. Yes, it's nice.

blending in

My fashion sense. Amazing, isn't it? Note the Arsenal cap.

I went to a cave while I was there, the usual stalactites and stalagmites. But very nice and cool on a hot day. Damp. And interesting graffiti from 100 years ago when it was discovered, mostly in french and some in Chinese. It had been discovered, and then lost, and then used by the viet kong to hide people and weapons from American detection. I haven't been to a cave for a while, and I enjoyed it. Touristy as hell, of course, but occasionally I was actually alone in a section, so it wasn't objectionably crowded.

Halong Bay

Here is a shot from the junk I was on in Halong Bay. It was really beautiful there, not quite as hot as hanoi, cleaner air, and these views. The Junk I was on was nice, I had a very comfortable bed and a private shower.

water puppet dragons

Here are the dragons squirting water at each other. They also breathed fire at each other.

another water puppet

Here is a standard water puppet. Hand painted wood, they fall apart after a few months of use. Apparently, they provide work for a whole village somewhere. This style of puppetry was started in the north of vietnam when the rice fields would flood every year. Apparently, there were lots of secrets that were passed down in families. Women were previously not allowed to do this. And the people who did do it, prior to the waders that they all wear now, got all types of horrible illnesses and problems from spending so much time with their body in the water.

The orchestra at the water puppet theater

More Vietnam

I'm going to try to put up some more before I forget it all.

A highpoint in Hanoi was the water puppets. I'm generally a big fan of puppets, and these puppets were especially cool, appearing and disappearing out of and into water. Lots of fire and squirting water too. They had all kinds of dragons, animals, boats, animals and elaborate moving sets. Also, the orchestra played great, sometimes chinese style music, and occasionally interacted with the puppets, talking to them and emphasizing their movements. Of course I didn't understand, but the stories were pretty simple and generally easy to understand from the action. It's a pity my camera isn't good enough to take good pictures in the dark (too far away for a flash) but you can get an idea from my photos. The one above is the stage.