We flew to Hanoi, from where we'll work our way south through Vietnam. We planned to arrive just after Tet, the Vietnam New Year, as there would be lots of disruption to travel and our first appointment was a cruise to Halong Bay. We'd arranged to meet Roger (Ali's dad) and Eleanor for this trip, as they are also visiting Vietnam at this time. To Ali's surprise, Roger had arranged quite an upmarket hotel in Hanoi and we enjoyed all the free sweets we could handle and a very comfy bed for one night only. On the last day of the Vietnamese holiday we visited a temple and pagoda busy with locals making handsome offerings to ensure their fortune in the new year,
Halong Bay is a magnificent archipelago of limestone islands with sheer rock faces (karst formations) that is one of Vietnam's major attractions. Although the weather was seasonally misty, they were still an incredible sight. Our two day cruise took us through the islands whilst enjoying lunch, into some large caves and kayaking in the cloudy blue waters. The energetic crew had the activities lined up for us and day two began with Tai Chi on the deck at 0630 followed by breakfast, swimming and a cooking class. It was all a great experience and on our way back we planned some budget days back in Hanoi and our next stops in Vietnam.
Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam, the big city of the north and the base for the communist government that leads the country. Its old quarter is a maze of quaint narrow passageways full of obscure shops, people eating and drinking in the eateries that sprawl over the pavement, and lots and lots of motorbikes. The cappuccino coffee mixed with egg white that is a local speciality blew our minds. We visited the Prison museum where we began to learn some of the history and culture of Vietnam and feel it is quite a different place the other countries we have been to. We also visited the Women's museum, which proved to be an interesting multimedia account of women's role in history and today. Leila was sceptical when the first section was entitled 'women and marriage' but fortunately it soon moved on to women's other achievements.
Religion seems less significant in Vietnam compared with the other countries we have visited, with one of our tour guides even claiming 'there is no religion in Vietnam'. This seemed especially evident when we joined the enormous queue of people lined up to see former president Ho Chi Minh embalmed and displayed in his mausoleum. A quick history lesson took place whilst waiting to see the communist hero that led Vietnam to independence from the French, Japanese and the Americans in the last century and is apparently revered by the people. He looks quite a lot like a wax work and you only get a minute or so to walk around his display case but nevertheless it was an interesting experience.
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