Monday 5th February 2018, Hanoi
We got on to the bus and headed through the city to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, a columned stone structure perched over a classic communist parade square with government buildings surrounding it.
The mausoleum itself was closed to the public as it was a Monday, so we proceeded to the former (French) governor’s mansion which Uncle Ho was offered but refused. A massive French style mansion painted bright yellow with lush gardens, now used for diplomatic receptions.
To the side of the mansion is a small structure of humble rooms which was built as the winter house of HCM. Around the lake from the building is the House on Stilts, a summer home for HCM with a simple bedroom and study on the raised level and a living/meeting area below. Both buildings were surprisingly simple and plainly decorated, and the grounds were tended by an army of gardeners to keep the place spic and span.
Through a parade of gift shops we went to a small temple complete with a cat warming itself by a fire, and looked at the One Pillar Pagoda, a small shrine that is said to bring fertility to those who visit.
Temples and shrines are not subtle affairs, a garish cacophony of gold and red with offerings of pretty much any type of food and drink. Vietnam has an odd mix of religions, they are primarily Buddhist but with a mix of animism and a background of Hinduism which has kind of been folded in to the Buddhist system.
Back to the bus and we headed to the Temple of Writing, a Confucian temple and school built over 800 years ago to educate the sons of the elite. It was a very relaxing place to look around with grand courtyards and a reflecting pool, the temple parts were of the usual style, garishly festooned with red and gold decorations and many of the Vietnamese and Chinese tourists praying and giving offerings.
We returned to the hotel and went down the road to a local cafe for a bowl of pho (chicken noodle broth) and then walked in to the old quarter for a look around the streets and shops before heading to the lake side for a rickshaw tour of the streets.
The poor chap peddling mine didn’t seem keen on the idea but he was fine when he got going. The chap on the bike is behind the open carriage on these rickshaws so you were head on with the traffic and chaos of bikes coming at you from all sides, most certainly an interesting experience.
The tour lasted about half an hour and wasn’t really any quicker than walking, but was a nice chance to put one’s feet up and enjoy a beer.
We were dropped back at the lake to go and see the Water Puppet show, a local tradition where performers stand beind screens and tell stories with puppets in the water. I’ll confess that we all nodded off during the performance, and looking around the audience I think just about everyone else did as well, it probably loses something when you can’t understand it.
We went on to a restaurant for a similar meal to the previous night and then made our way back to the hotel where a few of us had a nightcap before turning in for some much needed rest.
Tuesday 6th February 2018, Hanoi and Ha Long Bay
The following morning we were up for breakfast and then checked out, leaving our luggage at the hotel for the four hour drive to Ha Long Bay. We stopped around half way for a break at a massive shop run by disabled people, many of whom make the products on sale nearby. They had a range of enamels, statues, paintings, and other such arts and crafts, as well as snacks and drinks at exorbitant prices.
Arriving at the Ha Long dock we took the tender boat to transfer to our junk which would be our hotel for the night. The boat was pleasant but not luxurious, however the sun had come out so we all relaxed on the top deck for a while before heading down for lunch.
Most of the group had a seafood meal, langoustine, prawn, etc but they gave me a pork schnitzel which was rather nice. We enjoyed the scenery as the boat took us to a small group of the many islands where we were transferred over to a floating platform and then on to small boats rowed by locals.
We spent the next half hour being rowed almost silently around the islands, such an incredible place to see. As was becoming obvious though we are on the tourist trail so there were swarms of others doing the same thing.
On returning to the boat we had some time to ourselves and I availed myself of a back and shoulder massage having had neck aches from the first night in the hotel at Heathrow. Our boat was shared with a small party of French guests who were not particularly friendly to us, despite a few of us speaking a little French they were unwilling to converse and kept pushing in front of us in various places.
After a little rest we regathered for a demonstration in how to make the local variety of fresh spring rolls, however this was given in French by the guide of the other group so myself and a couple of the others who understood some, translated for the rest of the group.
After this we had another seafood meal with freshly caught produce being barbecued on deck, I was given some pork as an alternative. We were all pretty tired at this point so I turned in whilst the others had a go at fishing for squid off the bow, catching two but apparently having a moral crisis about what to do with them.
The room was essentially a normal hotel room, but with one end being an open wet-room with the bathroom facilities in.
