Seoul, South Korea

Statue of King Sejong

The rest of our time in South Korea was spent in the big city of Seoul.  We alternated between seeing the sights and spending time with Daron’s brother Rod, whenever he was available.  Thankfully, Seoul has a very user-friendly subway system – and it’s affordable too, at approximately $1 per person per trip.  It seemed like we started every morning on the subway, headed to some different part of the city.  We spent one day downtown, walking along the river, which reminded us a lot of Cherry Creek in Denver.  Daron especially loved looking for fish in the water as we walked.  We spent another day visiting the palace complex of Changdeokgung, where we took a tour of the Secret Garden, which is this beautiful forested area with ponds and other structures, all used by Korea’s ancient kings.  One day we felt ambitious and decided to try hiking the trail that follows the old wall that used to surround the city of Seoul.  Parts of the original wall still remain, some of it has been restored, and some of it is just plain missing.  The wall winds its way over some of the mountains near Seoul – we hiked to the top of Mt. Bukhansan and enjoyed spectacular views of Seoul.  From there we continued following the wall through the mountains until we got lost and mistakenly ended up on a trail back into town.  Not very many signs are in English, which made it a challenge to stay on the trail we wanted.  Oh well, it was a good excuse to stop for ice cream!  So much for our plan to hike the whole thing!  I think we did the best part of the walk anyways.

Octopus for sale at the fish market

One morning we took the subway to the fish market, which was huge!  There were many sea creatures for sale that we had never seen before. It was very well organized and clean, especially compared to the fish markets we had seen in Southeast Asia.  The other difference is there were tons of octopuses at this one.  It’s obvious that octopus is a delicacy here.  We read that they like to eat live baby octopus – the challenge is to chew it up before it climbs into your nasal cavity!  (baby octopus video here)  We didn’t try it, although I’ve seen some pretty amazing videos on YouTube of people who have.  The head goes in first while the long tentacles lash onto the person’s face while they’re still chewing.  Koreans also enjoy raw adult octopus, chopped up into still wriggling pieces that move around while you’re chewing! (see video here) We didn't give that one a try either, as I’m not much of a fan of my food still wriggling while I’m eating it.

Our best times were spent with Rod.  One day he met us along the Han River (a large river that cuts through Seoul) where we had a picnic.  Rod used his bachelor-chef skills to make yummy chicken wings and homemade potato salad for us! We walked over a bridge to Seonyudo island for our picnic.  The island was a water treatment facility that has since been converted into a fabulous modern garden and park.  Lots of local families were there too, enjoying the nice day.  After our picnic we rented bikes and rode the long bike trail along the Han River.  Riding the trail gave us a good feel for how big Seoul actually is.  It felt like we had been pedaling forever, yet you could see by the landmarks that we hadn’t even crossed half of the city!  We had a lot of fun that day playing (and sweating!) in the sun!

Riding bikes along the Han River

We did happy hour with Rod for the two Fridays we were there – he got us into the Foreign Correspondents Club, located in downtown Seoul.  Beer was a great price, only $1 each, which makes it a popular spot for a FAC.  The FCC is a great place for expats in the communication industry to meet up with each other.  We enjoyed hanging out with Rod’s friends and learning about life in Korea.  Both times we were there we would start our night at the FCC (for the cheap beer and to meet up with folks), then the party would head to Itaewon, where the U.S. military base is located – there are lots of western-style bars and restaurants there.  Inevitably we would be out until the wee hours of the morning (those writers sure do know how to party!). 

The Cheonggyecheon River in Seoul

While we were in Seoul Rod had a large historical article in the English newspaper.  It was a two-parter that was printed over two days.  We also saw his writings in a local English magazine, which was kind of fun – plus we saw one of his books in a bookstore we went into.  It felt like we knew someone famous.  Truth be told, Rod is actually very well known in his field of Korean history.  It was impressive to hear him speak Korean, which he did often since not many Koreans speak English.  Without Rod it would have been difficult for us to use a taxi, or even order at a Korean restaurant.   After this trip I have come to admire people who can speak two languages, especially when one is a language with an entirely different alphabet. 

Some of our favorite moments were eating out with Rod, especially since he could read the menu!  Not a lot of menus were in English, unless we were at a Taco Bell or McDonalds.  Every time we went out to eat, we struggled with the menu.  One time we walked into a Korean restaurant and played Russian roulette with the menu – we just pointed to a couple of line items, having no idea what they were.  One was decent but the other one turned out to be cold noodles on ice (that’s ICE, not rice!), with hot sauce poured over it.  Yuck!  Not to our taste at all!  After that we didn’t eat Korean food unless we had Rod with us to help us figure out what to order (even better, he usually did the ordering for us!).  Needless to say, we did a lot of fast food when we weren’t with Rod, just to play it safe. 

View of Seoul from Mt. Bukhansan

We really enjoyed our time in Korea.  The weather was fabulous – it was probably in the 70s every day we were there, and the nights weren’t very chilly.  It was nice to be back in a modern land, after spending four months in Southeast Asia.  In Korea I think everyone owns a smart phone.  And the rumor is they upgrade to a new one every three months!  Coffeeshops were everywhere, including Starbucks.  Koreans love their coffee, although it was mostly lattes and not drip.  A couple of times Daron ordered a drip coffee and both times they brewed a pot especially for him (no bottomless cup though).  Everyone in the areas we went to were very well dressed.  They all seemed so fashionable, maybe because Korea is known for its inexpensive clothing industry.  We had been so popular in Vietnam, constantly being approached, whereas here we were pretty much ignored, except for one group of students who interviewed us for their English class.  All in all it was a great visit, made even better by having a “local” guide.  We hope to get back to Korea one day to explore other areas of the country. 

The DMZ

During our time in South Korea Daron and I signed up for a tour of the DMZ.  The DMZ is an area along the 38^th parallel that separates North and South Korea.  To understand how that division came to be, you have to go all the way back to the end of World War II.  Korea was ruled by Japan at that time - following Japan’s surrender, Korea was divided in half along the 38^th parallel.  The north half was occupied by Soviet troops while the south half was occupied by American troops.  Over time, the division between the two halves increased until 1950, when North Korean troops invaded South Korea.  They had almost taken over the entire peninsula when the United States stepped in and helped repel the North’s forces back across the 38^th parallel and almost up to the Chinese border.  Then China stepped in to help the North – they were able to push the South’s forces back down across the 38^th parallel.  In 1953 the war ceased with an armistice agreement that restored the 38^th parallel as a border between the two halves, where it remains to this day.  All in all, the conflict claimed over 3 million lives.

One of the slides from the DMZ tour slideshow

The DMZ, or Demilitarized Zone, is basically a buffer zone between the two Koreas.  It is 160 miles long and 2.5 miles wide (or 4 km – 2 km on each side).   It is the most heavily militarized border in the world.  The Military Demarcation Line (MDL) goes right down the middle of the DMZ.  Both sides may patrol within the DMZ, but neither can cross the MDL.  Of course, skirmishes do occasionally occur in the DMZ and there have even been defections on both sides of the line.

When we signed up for the DMZ tour we were told there was a dress code.  Basically we had to look nice – no ripped jeans, no t-shirts with lewd pictures or sayings on them, no sandals, etc.  This was so the North Koreans wouldn’t be able to take pictures of us and use it as propaganda (see how terrible those foreigners look, etc).  The day of our tour was drizzly, but we didn’t mind - in fact, it sort of fit the mood.  We took a bus the 40-some miles from Seoul to the UN military post located within the JSA, or Joint Security Area.  The JSA is the only portion of the DMZ where North and South Korean soldiers stand face to face.  The area is used by the joint Koreas for diplomatic engagements. 

A slide showing the location of the MDL and DMZ

Our first stop was an auditorium where a U.S. soldier gave a very informative talk and slideshow on the DMZ and how it came to be.  Afterwards, he led us out the back of the building where we could see the North Korean side of the JSA.  We were not allowed to turn around and take photos of anything on the South Korean side, but it was fine to take photos of the North Korean side.  In fact, the U.S. soldier told us it was “highly encouraged.”  I got the feeling that all the photo-taking probably irritates the North Koreans so that’s why the U.S. soldiers encourage it!  We were told not to wave or make any other gestures towards the North Koreans.  Once outside we were maybe 200 feet away from the North Korean building where we could see troops eyeing us through binoculars.  Daron and I had brought our binoculars so we took a gander at them too.  I had an impulse to wave at them when I saw them looking at us, but had to suppress it.  There weren’t very many North Korean troops that we could see – there were more South Korean and U.S. troops on our side of the compound.    

Joint Security Area - looking into North Korea

Next we were led into one of the blue buildings in the JSA that straddles the line between the two Koreas - it is used infrequently for meetings.  Since the Joint Security Area is split in half down the middle between the two sides, the further half of the building is considered to be in North Korea.   All of us on the tour had to walk to the far side of the building just so we could all say we’d stepped into North Korea!  All in all, it was pretty strange to see the two sides facing each other all day long. 

We got back on the bus where we toured the nearby area.  We were shown the Bridge of No Return, which was used for prisoner exchanges during the Korean War.  North Korean prisoners caught by troops in South Korea were given the choice to stay in the South or cross the bridge back to the North.  Once they crossed the bridge, they could never return – hence the name.  I can’t imagine being one of those soldiers having to make that kind of choice – and then wondering later on if I made the right decision!

South Korean troops stand guard

We were also shown a large tree stump with a plaque next to it.  This turned out to be the site of the Axe Murder Incident (and no, it was not any of my relatives!) that occurred in August of 1976.  Within the Joint Security Area, there used to be checkpoints interspersed throughout, manned by either North or South troops (since relations have declined, this is no longer the case).  During the summer checkpoint #3 was hidden from view by a large 100 foot poplar tree.  North Korean troops had made numerous attempts to kidnap South Korean troops from checkpoint #3 and drag them across the Bridge of No Return into North Korea.  It was finally decided that the tree needed to be trimmed.  Even though South Korea had informed North Korea that the trimming would take place, North Korean troops attacked the tree trimming unit, killing two American soldiers with axes brought for the job.  Three days after the killings, Operation Paul Bunyan took place.  Two eight man teams of army engineers entered the JSA with chain saws to cut down the darn tree (no more trimming, the tree was coming down!), along with two 30-man armed platoons and a 64-man heavily armed Special Forces company.  As if that wasn’t enough, there were also 20 utility helicopters, 7 Cobra attack helicopters, and a B-52 Stratofortress escorted by F4 Phantom IIs and F-5 Freedom Fighters, all circling overhead during the 45 minutes it took to cut down the tree.  The aircraft carrier the Midway had also been moved to a station just offshore.  The North Koreans responded by sending 150-200 troops to the area, who stationed themselves at machine gun positions.  They silently watched the tree being cut down – no violence ensued, although tensions increased along the DMZ for a while afterwards.  That takes tree trimming to a whole new level!

US and South Korean soldiers

One of our next stops was a visit to a tunnel.  We were allowed to enter the tunnel and walk the length of it up to the Military Demarcation Line, where it had been walled off.  It was very deep underground, as we walked forever downhill through a connecting shaft before reaching it (it is 240 feet below ground).  They discovered it in 1978 based on information provided by a defector.  It is believed to have been built for a surprise attack on Seoul and can accommodate 30,000 troops per hour along with light weaponry.  North Korea originally denied creating the tunnel, then declared it was part of a coal mine, even though there is no coal in the area (they smudged black stuff on the walls hoping that would fool everyone!).  This is the third of four tunnels discovered heading towards Seoul from North Korea.  The fourth tunnel was discovered in 1990.  It is believed that there are up to ten more tunnels not yet discovered – U.S. and South Korean troops regularly drill for tunnels along the DMZ in hopes of finding them.

Amazingly, there is a silver lining to the tensions and division between the two Koreas.  Due to the isolation along the DMZ, the area has become a sort of involuntary nature reserve.  It has been recognized as one of the most well preserved areas of temperate habitat in the world.  Several endangered plant and animal species exist within the heavily fortified four kilometer wide swath of land cutting across the peninsula.  Good to know that something positive can come out of all this!

Site of the poplar tree and axe murder incident

We found our tour of the DMZ absolutely fascinating.  Korea is the only separated country in the world like this.  It made me think that Vietnam could have had this same fate, if things had turned out differently.  I feel sad for the families who have members on both sides of the DMZ and can never see each other.  While in Seoul, we hardly thought about North Korea, at least until I learned about those tunnels.  After that, it made me wonder if North Korea would ever go through with a plan to attack Seoul.  There have been many incidents along the DMZ since its inception, most of them caused by the hijinks of the North Koreans.  North Korea seems childlike, always trying to get attention, and not always in a good way.  Many soldiers have died on both sides from these incidents.  It was interesting to think about how different each half of the country has turned out – one side is very modern and technologically savvy, while the other side is very poor and rural.  It is said that if you look at Korea at night from space, the north half is black while the south half is lit up like a Christmas tree! This tour gave us a direct experience to relate to what we hear in the news.  I am hopeful that one day the two Koreas can be united again.

Hello South Korea!

We're finally here!

After spending four months in Southeast Asia, Daron and I were really looking forward to South Korea.  Not only for the cooler weather (we were averaging three showers a day in Hanoi!), but to be somewhere a bit more modern too.  Neither of us knew much about the country, so we weren’t exactly sure what to expect.  Our main reason for going was to visit Daron’s older brother, Rod, who lives in Seoul.  Although they have kept in touch via email and the phone, Daron and Rod have not seen each other in fourteen years.

The streets of Seoul

Rod has an interesting story (at least I think so!).  He has lived in South Korea for 27 years – longer than he’s lived in the U.S.  He joined the army when he was young, where he went to school to become a Korean interpreter.  He was stationed in Korea for fifteen years or so, where he worked along the DMZ, which is the heavily guarded border between North and South Korea.  After his release from the Army he decided to stay in Korea.  He is now a writer who specializes in Korean history.  Rod has written, co-written, and contributed to numerous books; he also writes articles for the English newspaper in Seoul as well as for a few local magazines.  He’s quite the busy guy!  We were looking forward to seeing him and learning more about Korea.  A big plus is that Rod is fluent in Korean, so we would finally have help in the communication department!  

Beth in an alleyway in Seoul

We flew Korean Air from Hanoi in Vietnam to Seoul, which only took about five hours.  The bummer was it was a red-eye flight, leaving at 11pm.  Korean Air was fabulous – so friendly and professional.  We were served good food (by airplane standards) and each seat had a small screen to pick and choose movies, tv shows, etc. to watch.  We knew we needed to sleep, but the temptation to watch new releases we had missed during our travels proved to be too much.  We probably only slept two hours total (if that) during the flight!

Rod & Daron doing what they do best - feasting!

We knew we weren’t in Southeast Asia anymore as soon as we hit the airport!  It was so modern, CLEAN, and spacious.  People were friendly and tried their best to help us when we looked lost – and they didn’t even ask for money! J  We took the subway from the airport to our youth hostel, where we had booked a private room.  It was a small but modern room with its own bathroom – plus it included breakfast and all you can drink coffee (haven’t had that since we left the U.S.).  We can finally throw toilet paper into the toilet again!  Yay!  The weather was perfect too – warm days and cool nights.  The only downside is things are much more expensive in South Korea.  Our youth hostel cost us approximately $50 a night.  But it was worth it.

I'd hate to be the one doing the dishes!

After a nap (stayed up too late watching movies on the airplane!), we met Rod in the afternoon for a late lunch/early dinner.  He took us to a Korean BBQ restaurant that was delicious!  All across the city they have these restaurants where the food is cooked at your table – either you cook it or they cook it for you, right there.   Millions of little dishes come out too, some look familiar and some not so much.  We were happy to have Rod to tell us about the food and the etiquette of how to eat it all.  Of course, Daron beats to the sound of a different drummer and does his own thing with the food, forget the local customs!   The one thing Rod couldn’t help us with is how to use the darn metal chopsticks!  We had mastered the wood and plastic chopsticks during our time in Southeast Asia, but hadn’t come across the metal ones.  They are very slippery!   More than once during our stay we were given forks after making spectacles of ourselves trying to get food into our mouths (or out of our laps!).

The Neff brothers just chillin'

In case you are like me, and don’t know much about South Korea, here are some facts I’ve gathered about the country: 

• South Korea’s population is approximately 49 million (the capital city of Seoul is 10 million)
• 83% of the population lives in urban areas
• Life expectancy is 79 years
• The birthrate of 1.19 babies per female is one of the lowest in the world
• The country is slightly larger than the state of Indiana
• The climate is subtropical, with four distinct seasons
• The terrain is mostly hills and mountains
• Christianity is South Korea’s largest religion, with Buddhism coming in second. 
• All South Korean males are required to serve two years in the military
• South Korea has the 11^th largest economy in the world
• Well known South Korean companies:  Hyundai, Samsung, LG
• Koreans have a high regard for harmony.  It often supersedes truth or logic.  Hierarchy is also important – everyone must know their position on the ladder.  This contributes to harmony.
• There is very strong social pressure to be successful, dutiful, and to fit in.  This pressure has resulted in a high suicide rate. 

It was great to see Daron’s long lost brother and catch up a bit on the first evening.  We look forward to spending more time with him and learning about his life in this country.  

Goodbye Vietnam!

The littlest, oldest, wrinkly-est woman ever!

The time has come for us to leave yet another country on this trip of ours.  To be honest, we didn’t enjoy Vietnam as much as we thought we would, and we both agree that it was our least favorite Southeast Asian country.  Vietnam definitely has some beautiful areas that are worth visiting – the challenge for us was dealing with the people.  Our guidebook told us that the Vietnamese believe it is socially acceptable to rip off the tourists, which we found to be true - and they do it in all kinds of creative ways!  It was a constant battle to hang on to our money here, and we never knew if we paid a fair price or not.  Overall it is small money, but over time that small money adds up – and sometimes it's not even about the money, but the whole idea of getting ripped off.  Of course not everyone had their hands out – we did meet some very friendly and gracious Vietnamese people along the way as well.

All of that on a bicycle!

I purposefully did not include all of the scams we encountered during our travels across Vietnam in my other blog postings as I thought it would be more interesting to include at the end.  So here they are:

Taxis were the worst!  We tried not to take them too often, as we met many people with quite the taxi horror stories.  We heard that the taxi drivers would agree on a price, and then change it when you reached your destination and it came time to pay.  The drivers would get belligerent and in your face about it. Luckily that never happened to us (except for a moto driver with Daron - see below).  Our experience included getting into a taxi that had a tinkered meter in it, so the fare increased faster than in the regular taxis.  We took one from the train station to our hotel in Hanoi, and it cost us $5.  We didn’t know we’d been had until we took a taxi with a reputable company from our hotel back to the train station and it only cost us $1.50.  Oh well – at least we didn’t take it a long distance.

Yum!

The other taxi story we have is from the same darn train station in Hanoi.  One time we got off the train and a taxi driver latched onto us as soon as we exited.  We asked his price to the Old Quarter and he wanted $5.  By now we knew that was too much and politely declined his offer.  He followed us to every taxi driver we approached after that and told them not to deal with us.  We would start the negotiation process with a taxi driver, then this guy would come over and say something in Vietnamese, and the driver would roll up his window and drive away.  It was so mean spirited!  We ended up walking down the street a bit and getting a taxi for $2. Ugh!  Stay away from the train station if at all possible!

One evening Daron was out with a friend and took a motorbike taxi back to our hotel.  The driver agreed on a price of $1 (they were already close to our hotel, but Daron was lost as the Old Quarter is a maze!).  When he dropped Daron off, Daron tried to give him $2 to be nice and the guy said the price was $5!  Heated words were exchanged and the guy eventually left with his $2. 

Fancy lighter anyone?

While walking around Hanoi, there are these guys that would constantly approach us, wanting to clean our shoes, even our Teva sandals.  We would laugh about it because if you stopped for any reason (like a crosswalk), they would pull out these toothbrushes and try to start cleaning your shoes, even though you hadn’t agreed to let them do this.  They were very persistent!  On our last day in Hanoi, Daron broke down and asked one of them how much for the cleaning – the guy said $1.  So Daron gave in and let one of them clean his shoes.  He even took them off to make it easier.  Big mistake.   The next thing we knew the guy called a buddy over to help him and they started gluing every little seam on Daron’s shoes – then the big needle and thread came out and they sewed the entire sole around both shoes.  I call it smoke and mirrors because none of it really did anything – it just looked like it did.  Daron gave them both $1, then the first guy said the price was now $25.  Daron’s shoes aren’t even worth that much!  Daron had to walk away after paying them the $1 each – it’s what you have to do here, even though it feels rude.

Our favorite gum-selling girl in Saigon!

While Daron was sitting shoeless on the street corner during that debacle, a vendor selling lighters came by and tried to get Daron to buy a fancy lighter.  Daron told him he didn’t need one, no thank you, etc. (you begin to sound like a broken record with these guys!).  The guy wouldn’t leave and eventually started cussing at Daron in English – more f-bombs than I’ve heard in a long while.  Daron was a captive audience because he wasn’t wearing any shoes, so he just calmly listened to the guy spout off.  Eventually the guy left, cussing all the way! 

Streetcorner gas station!

Another thing that happened often was shortchanging.  Pretty much everywhere we went they tried to shortchange us.  I’m not so careful at checking my change (too trusting I guess), but Daron was good at it and caught them every time.  Sometimes they knew they’d been caught and would smile slyly when Daron asked them for the correct amount back.  Along a similar vein, we caught many food and drink vendors trying to overcharge us too.  We would order from a menu where the price was listed, then when it came time to pay instead of presenting a written bill, they would just verbally tell us the amount due.  It was usually more than what we would come to by adding the prices in our heads.  Sometimes we challenged them until the price was right and sometimes we didn't.  The language barrier made it difficult - sometimes it was easier to just pay the inflated price (which is probably what they were hoping for!).   

Sign at Hanoi Hilton prison - see #3 on frolicking!

These are the ones that happened to us, although I could go on and on about scams that happened to others.  We tried to be cautious and watch our money.  Daron always said, “at least they’re only trying to get a dollar or two, and not the whole thing.”  Thank goodness!  

Vietnam was very different than the other Southeast Asian countries we visited in other ways too.  For one, we hardly came across any beggars.  To be honest, I don’t think the Vietnamese would put up with them.  Buddhist monks in the other countries are not allowed to grow their own food – they are completely dependent upon the generosity of others.  In Vietnam, they did away with that and put the monks to work!  They may have a communist government, but the people are natural capitalists through and through!


We were asked all the time by other travelers if we were treated badly or differently because we were Americans.  Others asked if we told people where we were from.  We were constantly asked where we were from (this is a common question in every country we've traveled) and always answered truthfully  We did not feel any anti-American sentiment from any of the local folks we met.  In fact, just the opposite. Many people said they loved the USA, or wanted to visit there, etc.  The only time I was nervous to be an American was in the War Remnants Museum in Saigon - not that anyone said anything to me, it was more that the entire museum had an anti-American slant.

Anyhow, our time here has come to an end.  We enjoyed traveling throughout Vietnam, but found the whole money situation challenging, tiring, and a little depressing.  We are looking forward to our next destination – South Korea!

P.S. The Vietnamese love little chairs and stools - all the outdoor seating was basically kid's furniture.  Here are some of our favorite pics as giants in the land of little chairs!

Hanoi, Vietnam

View from one of the hotels we stayed in

We spent the rest of our time in Vietnam in the big city of Hanoi, which is also the capital of the country. We stayed in the Old Quarter, which is where most of the tourists stay.  It is a literal maze of small streets – there is no one main area.  It is very easy to get lost there, which we did a number of times.

One of the sites we saw while in Hanoi was the prison used during the Vietnam War, affectionately known by U.S. POWs as the Hanoi Hilton.  Part of the prison was torn down to make room for a nearby skyscraper, but parts of it have been preserved.  Senator John McCain was incarcerated here, and there are a few photos of him on display, as well as the flight suit he was wearing when he was captured.  The exhibit on the American soldiers imprisoned there is quite strange – it’s made to look more like summer camp than a prison.  There are pictures of Americans decorating a Christmas tree and playing sports, etc.  I’m sure it wasn’t all fun and games – just more Vietnamese propaganda. 

Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum

On another day we tried to see Ho Chi Minh’s body, but arrived five minutes too late.  It’s only open for a couple of hours each morning.  Ho Chi Minh had asked for his body to be cremated when he died, but the Vietnamese decided instead to embalm his corpse and place it in a glass sarcophagus for viewing.  The mausoleum is closed three months of the year when his body is sent to Russia for maintenance.  From what we heard, he looks more like a wax figure than anything else – there are rumors that his body has been replaced with a wax dummy, but who’s to know?  He is definitely revered amongst the people as the liberator of the Vietnamese people from colonialism, as well as respected for his communist ideology.    

Our favorite crazy traffic corner!

We spent a few evenings hanging out on “Beer Corner” in Hanoi.  This is a corner where the bars serve “fresh” beer, or freshly brewed draught beer, for only 25 cents a glass!  Believe it or not, the beer is actually pretty good to boot!  It’s a popular spot for tourists – we met up with a bunch of the folks on our Halong Bay tour there after we all arrived back in Hanoi.  Another time we were there with friends and we bought a round for a group of young Vietnamese guys who were friendly and fun.  They returned the favor by buying our group some dried squid.  Yuck!  I suppose it’s the thought that counts.

Pineapple vendor

The rest of the time we spent taking it easy – both of us caught minor colds and needed the rest.  Our favorite way to pass the time is to watch the traffic – we did a lot of that.  No matter how many times I see it, I’m still amazed that it somehow all works.  It looks like total chaos, and yet we have never seen an accident.  We rode on the back of a couple of motorbike taxis, whenever we needed to get to another part of town that was too far to walk to.  It is scary and fun at the same time – they definitely know what they’re doing. 

Hanoi was nice, and definitely has a much different feel than Ho Chi Minh City in the south.  The north didn’t feel as friendly to us as the south did – and the south had a much more modern feel to it.   I guess that’s what happens when a country is split for so long – Vietnam was divided into two parts for 21 years.  We preferred the south to the north and wished we had spent a little more time down there before rushing up here.  Oh well, live and learn!

Ninh Binh, Vietnam

Floating down the river

Our next destination in the north of Vietnam was a place called Ninh Binh.  The area is known for its karst formations, similar to Halong Bay, except they are inland and pop out of the rice paddies rather than the ocean.  It was said to be quite scenic so we headed there to spend a few days.

Once in town we rented bikes to an area called Tam Coc, which is a river that passes through three caves while winding its way amongst the limestone hills.  Once we arrived at the river we bought boat tickets for the hour long ride.  Our guidebook warned us about the locals and the stunts they would pull to get a couple of extra bucks from us.  In fact, it was almost like a script – it went exactly as we read about it. 

Daron helping to row the boat

We bought our boat tickets and were led to the next available boat driver/rower.  There were three rows of seats in the small boat – the back one is for the rower, Daron sat in the middle row with the rower’s helper, and I was alone in the front seat.  Our rower was a fairly young gal – again, like in other areas of Vietnam, most of the boat rowers were women.  Her helper was a much, much older woman – possibly her mother or grandmother.  The rower in back has two oars, and mostly rows with her feet.  It looks like she’s on a bicycle exercise machine, except she’s rowing a boat!  The older woman has one paddle for rowing on her side of the boat.  After we’d been going a short distance, I looked behind me at Daron and saw that he was paddling too.  The older woman had handed him a paddle and put him to work!  It gave me a giggle to see him paddling away next to the older lady. 

Boat rower using her legs to row

The scenery was beautiful, and was definitely worth all the hype.  Tam Coc literally means “three caves,” which makes sense because our boat went through three caves during our trip on the river.  They were a bit eerie to travel through.  The fun really began once we reached the turnaround point – it went just as our guidebook said it would.  At this point there are about ten boats waiting to pounce on us, all of them vendors with boats full of goodies (drinks, snacks) they want to sell.  One of them rowed over to our boat to try to sell us anything and everything.  After we bought a small box of cookies, she wanted us to buy the rower a drink, since she worked SO hard and MUST be thirsty.  We read in our guidebook and also online that the rower will sell it back to the vendor for the money, so we declined to buy her a drink.  After that we started rowing back to where we started.  While on the way, the older rower in our boat pulled out a box of her own that was under one of the seats.  It was full of items she had embroidered, mostly tablecloths.  They were very nice, but nothing that we wanted to buy and carry around with us, so we had to decline.  She was very persistent, and not very happy when we kept saying “no, thank you.”  Finally the box was put away and we continued on our way.  As we got closer, they both started saying “tip, tip” (funny which few english words they know!).  Daron told them he’d think about it once we got to shore – I think he wanted to make sure they weren't going to flip the boat over on us!  Once we were off the boat he gave both of them $1, which they both grumbled over.  I don’t think they thought it was enough.  It put a dark cloud over the experience, with all of us unhappy at the end.  Our guidebook even predicted this part too – it said that no matter how much you spend or give, it’s never enough to make the rowers happy.   Such a shame, because it’s a beautiful area and the first part of the boat ride was so pleasant.  At least we have good memories of the first part of the ride, even if it did go downhill after that.  And they did put my hubby to work, which is always a good thing!  J

Halong Bay, Vietnam

Enjoying the view from the top deck

From Hue we took an overnight train to Hanoi, a twelve hour trip.  There weren’t any soft sleepers available on the date we wanted to go so we booked a “soft seat,” which was basically a cushioned seat that reclined back a bit.  This is how most of the locals travel as it’s much cheaper than the sleeper car.  We had quite a few stowaways that did not pay for their space on the train – travelers otherwise known as cockroaches!  Ugh!  I hate those things.  I had the seat next to the wall and every so often one would crawl out from under the rim around the window – I would lean over onto Daron and he would kill it.  It was all I could do to stay calm.  At times I would hear a big SLAP when one of the locals squished a big one on the floor with their shoe.  Yuck yuck yuck.  It made sleeping difficult, especially since I couldn’t rest my head against the wall.  We were both happy when the train finally pulled into the station at Hanoi.

Our junk, the Paloma

We spent enough time in Hanoi to book our trip to Halong Bay, as we knew it would be a highlight of our time in Vietnam.  In 1994 Halong Bay was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.  It is also one of the finalists for the New 7 Wonders of Nature campaign where people can vote for their favorite natural wonder.  The scenery is similar to Phi Phi and Krabi in Thailand, but with many more karst formations.  There are over 3,000 of these limestone islets in the bay, although the Vietnamese will tell you that there are exactly 1,969 of them (1969 is the year the Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh died). 

The vendors find their next victim

I can’t say enough good things about our Halong Bay tour and the boat (known as a junk here) we booked.  We splurged a bit on this trip as we didn’t want to end up on a backpacker party boat.  We had heard stories about the cheap boats being infested with rats and cockroaches (have had enough of those!), as well as people partying all night long, which wasn’t the experience we wanted.  We also wanted to be safe, as back in February of this year a junk sank in the bay, killing eleven tourists and their Vietnamese tour guide.  Nine foreigners and six Vietnamese survived by jumping into the bay and swimming to other boats.  One of the crew members had left a valve open that allows water to come in and cool the engine, so the boat took on too much water, causing it to sink around 5am.  The ones who didn’t make it were trapped in their cabins.  On our boat the first thing they told us was where our life jackets were and that each cabin had a large hammer to break the window if necessary.  Thoughts of sinking kept me up the first night on our boat, but thankfully not the second. 

Houses in the floating village

After much research we booked a three-day two-night trip on the Paloma junk and were not disappointed.  We were picked up at our hotel in Hanoi in the morning for the three hour drive to the bay.  Once there we were shuttled to the boat where we had a fabulous lunch.  All the meals were included and they were excellent.  Our friends on the boat who we ate all our meals with mentioned that they loved eating with Daron, as he was so enthusiastic about the food.  Anyone who knows Daron can attest to this – the man loves to EAT!  He made all our meals fun. 

As soon as we boarded the junk, we could see small boats being rowed in our direction.  They turned out to be Vietnamese vendors with boats full of goodies to sell.  They would row over and call to us while we were in our cabin.  All we had to do was open our window to negotiate with them.   They had nets on long poles that they would use to transfer whatever was purchased up to us – we would put our money in the same net to pay them.  Drinks are not included on the junks and are quite expensive so many folks purchased alcohol from the boat vendors.  Even though we had fabulous views from our window, we would have to pull the curtains to avoid the vendors spotting us – if they even saw a glimpse of one of us through the window they would row over and call out to us over and over.  They were persistent if nothing else!

Lunch and lounging on the beach

The first day we visited a large cave, then toured the bay while enjoying a sunset happy hour party on the top deck.  Day two started with a yummy breakfast, followed by a tour of a floating village.  There are four floating villages out in the bay, with a total population of 1,600 people.  They catch fish and collect mollusks for a living.  We had the option of being rowed by a local guide through the village or kayaking ourselves through it.  Daron and I chose the kayaking option and thoroughly enjoyed paddling ourselves through the “neighborhood.”  As we went by the floating houses we could see that many of them had televisions and other electronic devices.  Crazy.  Barrels were outside on the “porch” to collect rainwater.  Some houses even had dogs.  It was a very surreal place – I can’t even imagine living in a floating house year-round. 

So much fabulous scenery!

We toured a more remote part of the bay during the rest of the morning on our way to a small secluded beach.  Once at the beach we had the option to rest, hang out, or kayak around the area.  Daron and I did more kayaking as there was so much to explore – the limestone karst formations were everywhere and made for interesting kayaking.  Some rocks were eroded enough that they had small caves to kayak into or through.  It was amazingly picturesque.  Meanwhile the boat staff had ferried all the makings for lunch to the beach and had prepared an elaborate meal for us, complete with tables and chairs set up in the sand.   It was fun dining on our own little private beach in the bay.  After lunch we took it easy, with some of us napping on the beach and others doing more kayaking.   We cruised another part of the bay during the rest of the afternoon, stopping to tour a floating pearl farm before dinner. 

 

The next day we enjoyed breakfast and taking it easy before heading back to shore for the long bus ride back to Hanoi.  It was nice to escape the hustle and bustle of the cities on the mainland for a couple days of peace and beauty on the bay.