Category: Vietnam 2024/2025

Today we had organized a tour so we were up early (in addition to fighting jet lag). After breakfast and several calls to wish family a Merry Christmas (we are 12 hours ahead of the east coast), we met our guide for today, Hung, in the lobby. The tour was of Ninh Binh, also known as Halong Bay on Land. We are going to Halong Bay as part of our OAT tour. The area we went today has limestone mountains, similar to Halong Bay but here they rise up out of rice paddles.

Ninh Binh is 2 hours south of Hanoi. We peppered Hung with questions about Vietnam the whole way. Hung has a 1 year old daughter so we talked a lot about education. The Vietnamese have to pay for school for their children. The first 5 years of school is mandatory but secondary school is not mandatory. The cost of school varies by location. In a village school costs about 2,000,000 VND or about $75 at current exchange rates per month. In a city like Hanoi it costs 5,000,000 VND (approximately. $200) per month. There are private schools and the one that Hung’s wife works at costs 11,000,000 VND (approximately $430) per month. Many people of child bearing age move to the city to find work. Often they send their children back to the village to live with their grandparents and to go to school there because it is cheaper but of course that means the parents and children are separated. Hung’s wife will receive a 50% discount at the school she works at so they plan to send their daughter to private school. Hung’s family is unusual in that he and his brother and sister all have college degrees. So education is important to him and his family.

After our 2 hour ride we arrived at Bich Dong (Green Pearl Cave) Pagoda, a Buddhist temple. Originally constructed in 1428 during the reign of Emperor Ly Thai To, Bich Dong Pagoda used to be a small pagoda nestled in Ngu Nhac Mountain.  In 1705, two Buddhist monks discovered this pagoda and re-constructed it into three levels (we only visited the lower two levels). The middle level is constructed in the mouth of a cave.

Here are some pictures. The arch pictured below is unique because on one column it has Chinese characters and on the other it has Vietnamese characters. It’s indicative of how often the Chinese invaded and how strong the Vietnamese pride and culture is that their language didn’t get lost.

Next we went to Tam Coc where we got on a small metal boat that was rowed by a lady using her feet. We enjoyed the limestone “mountains” (they aren’t very tall) and passed thorough caves. Here are some pictures

After our boat ride we went for lunch. We had pumpkin soup, chicken stir fry, goat with lemongrass and fried eggplant.

We wrapped up the day with a visit to Hoa Lu, the capital of Vietnam in the 10th and 11th centuries. It was chosen to the capital because it was relatively far away from the northern border with China (China had been a regular invader of Vietnam) and because it was fortified by the mountains. Here are a few pictures.

The traffic was terrible on the way back to Hanoi. We didn’t get back until about 5:30. We relaxed in the room and Rick promptly fell asleep while I blogged. We didn’t end up going out to dinner, instead we snacked on food we had in the room.

Merry Christmas

Not surprisingly we woke up early this morning. It was quite hazy this morning due to the pollution.

We had breakfast at the hotel. It was a buffet that had American, European, and Asian breakfast foods. They had some interesting fruit. I had something that I initially thought was cantaloupe. It was the color of cantaloupe but it had the consistency of an apple or a pear. We also tried longan which is related to lychees. Delicious!

The wait staff were all wearing santa hats but it was more for the hotel guests. I don’t get the impression that many people here celebrate Christmas. About 20% of the country are Christians. The rest are mostly Buddhists, hence not much of a Christmas celebration.

Rick’s foot is hurting. We are guessing that his foot swelled up as a result of the long plane ride and then it was aggravated by a long walk in the Tokyo airport. So after breakfast we relaxed in the room while he elevated and iced it.

Eventually we decided to walk to the Hoàn Kiém Lake which is close to the hotel. There were lots of people out, many street vendors selling everything from fruit, vegetables, meat, prepared food, to flowers. We also saw a street based barber giving a man a shave.

After about a 15 minute walk we arrived at the lake. It was fairly small and the water was very green.

Here is the story of the lake—According to legend, a local god gave Emperor Lê Loi (in the 1400s) a sword that he used to defeat the Chinese. A Golden Turtle God surfaced while Lê Loi was boating on the lake and asked for the sword back. The emperor renamed the lake to Hoàn Kiém Lake which means return sword to commemorate this event (before it was aptly called Luc Thuy, meaning green water). The turtle tower stands on a small island near the center of the lake

Near the northern shore of the lake lies Jade Islet, on which the Temple of the Jade Mountain (Ngọc Sơn Temple) stands. The temple was erected in the 18th century. It honors the 13th-century military leader Trần Hưng Đạo who distinguished himself in defeating the Mongol invasions of Vietnam thrice. Jade Island is connected to the shore by the wooden Thê Húc Bridge, painted vermillion red. The bridge’s name is poetically translated as “Perch of the Morning Sunlight”.

At the lake we saw a lot of mostly young women dressed up, mostly in red having their pictures taken. We thought it might be related to Christmas but we asked at the hotel and they told us that it was just people having their pictures taken.

We returned to the hotel to review our lunch options. Our guide had sent us some restaurant suggestions. We decided to try a relatively safe option which turned out to be a steak place. Neither of us was really interested in that and Vietnam’s not known for it’s steak so we tried another place. It ended up being street food which seemed a little dicey for our first meal out so we just came back to the hotel and took a nap. Our nap lasted a little longer than planned.

We got up around 6 and went to dinner. I was a little nervous because the menu on google showed only dishes with small turtle and pigeon. I had pigeon in Egypt and didn’t really like it. As for small turtle, NO WAY! But luckily the menu had plenty of other stuff. We had a nice dinner, returned to the hotel and promptly collapsed. Overall a good day for starting to get over our jet lag, resting Rick’s foot, and exploring a little.

Not much to write about since we arrived in Hanoi at 10pm. We flew 13 hours from Boston to Tokyo, had 1 hour 45 minute layover in Tokyo, and then flew another 6 hours to Hanoi. Hanoi is 12 hours ahead of Boston so we are completely flipping our time. We slept some on the plane but were feeling pretty groggy an upon landing in Hanoi. Customs was easy; they didn’t even look at our visas. We exchanged some money and picked up our luggage.

The driver to take us to the hotel was outside the exit. He didn’t speak any English and communicated with us through google translate. It was about a 45 min drive to our hotel. There seems to be a lot of air pollution and it smelled quite smoky. We noticed that most of the street food cafes were still full of people at 11:00 at night. We aren’t sure if that’s because it’s Christmas Eve or if it’s always that way. Also there were lots of motor bikes.

We arrived at our hotel, May de Ville Corner Hotel. The hotel is decorated for Christmas but we didn’t seem much evidence of Christmas on the drive to the hotel. Our room is clean but a little basic. We got a little settled and promptly went to bed.

We are off again.

This time to Vietnam for about a month. We are on an Overseas Adventure Tour but are going to spend a couple of extra days in Vietnam at the beginning and end of the trip. Our trip starts in Hanoi, go north to see the hill tribes then we return to Hanoi and travel south along the coast. We hope to be blogging everyday.

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