HALONG BAY

Four hour drive each way.  Bad roads, very bumpy, very dusty.

"Pee" stop....  at a site that has clean toilets. Yeah!!    
                                               
                                             and

MANY   MANY  things to sell and MANY sales girls, eager to tempt to buy. There are many beautiful things to buy:
Marble statues and small pieces,   embroidered pictures,        silk material,    jewelry,     purses,     and more.
We bought.   But on the return from Halong Bay instead of walking through the building we walked around it.
(Cheaper  pee)

This is a place where you see disabled children, boys and girls,  doing intricate embroidery.  Most are the progeny of agent orange infected grandparents. The government contributes help for these kids. Sales from this site also are of help.         
 
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Ah........ the bay....Unesco World Heritage Site...
          Even more awesome than we imagined
There was a haze, making it look like a Chinese print.

We boarded our luxury Chinese  junk.  About 10 berths.
 Ours had a private balcony.  
       We slept with the door open ..................................       .............beauty of the night     reflections.
                 moon and pleasant cool evening breeze.
Awoke just before dawn and sat on the balcony in robes       ...................Dawn broke changing the magic 
                           into more magic, pink hues
       Later SUN             How lucky
The week before voyages had to be cancelled.

SCENES IN OLD HANOI

I did Tai Chi in the park with a master and then Bob and I walked in the old town.




The bombardment of action .
...like showing you all  these pictures at once

HANOI

HANOI

The traffic here is like Saigon, crazy and dangerous and loud.

Ethnological  Museum is first class.  Built recently by the French.

This country is made up of more than 50 tribes living in fairly isolated areas.
They each have developed their own culture and language. 
Today there is movement to develop more unity. 
The museum uses fine videos to teach  about each of the tribes.
      As well as the usual museum stuff, clothing, implements, etc. they have built some typical houses in a 10 acre garden.      There are also a few houses that were were donated by the families that had lived in them.  These are only a few generations old.
The museum was very well attended.  Busloads of uniformed school kids.

On to the Ho Chi Min Mausoleum.
  It was closed     but we walked where we were permitted to.
          Then the magnificent Metropole Hotel.
               We upgraded to a bigger room
                            which came with a valet
                     and “Club benefits”   like High Tea.
                            We did not know what to do with the valet.                                                         BUT        
                                    High Tea every day is rather regal!!
                      

Either the guide has a poor memory or he thinks we do.  He keeps repeating,
“Madam, It’s alright I pick you up at  ........   whatever?? 
And he treats us like old people, helping us,     you know,     like you help old people.
Listening to him talk to the driver, the language sounds very stacatto.  Then Bob realized it’s not the language, he stutters.
 He is very educated, a PhD (and professor) in economics of tourism. 

HUE, VIETNAM

Our guide told us about himself.
When he was 44 years old his mother said, "It is time that you get married."  He said "I don't want to."  She slapped him and said he must.  He said OK.
She arranged a marriage for him.  He was very glad to find that his bride had light skin. 
For a girl to have a light face is very important here.  All the women wear face masks to keep them from getting sun tan.
If a woman has a dark face no one will marry her, we are told.
And respect for mother is also important.
We visited the Forbidden City where the king lived
(there was a king until 1945).  Every morning he walked to his mother's quarters, 1/2 mile to pay his respect to her.
"Mama how did you sleep??
"Mama, what can I do for you today?"     Bowing in respect
 

ADDTION TO LAST POSTING

An addition to the last entry:

After we "dined" on board,  Bob and I were ready for a nap.
(The boat was "powered" by a man and his wife (or I think it was his wife was,   they spoke no English.)

Oh good,  she is taking out a tatami mat for us to lay on the floor and nap .   Not my favorite mattress but when in Rome....
She is opening up a storage bin..... good it will be softer, she'll get a futon. 
No, she takes out kimonos to sell us!!! and lays THEM on the mat.  "No I don't want to buy"
Then out come book marks,  "No"
Note cards,  "No"     We are a captive potential customer.
Everything is quite nice but we do not want to buy.
Bob, being the softie that he is, chooses a few items.
When she sees that we will not buy anything else she tells the man to speed up the boat, time to get rid of us.
Now the money.......Vietnam dongs.....
$$25.00 = 500,000. dongs

Picture this:
  Bob begins to bargain with her.
He had just changed some money at the hotel so his pockets were full.  He has some $$ in 2 pockets and many dongs in 2 other pockets.  Neither speak the same language.  Both are trying to figure it out and make change.

We parted, new friends.....It was a fun trip...then the nap at the hotel.

Earlier when Bob got the money at the hotel I was asked by the receptionist to put clips on the many piles of dongs to
keep them straight.  Each pile contained 10 bills, each bill was worth 100,000 dongs.      To give you some idea, a coke costs 30,000. dongs
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We are now in Hanoi.  We have had 3 different guides in the different cities.  Each one has said to us, "Vietnam is very safe. But it is a good idea to keep your passport and money in the safe at the hotel.  Not a good idea to carry them around."

AFTERNOON CRUISE ALONG THE PERFUME RIVER

We took a 3 hour luxury cruise in  one of these

Another luxury cruise vessel similar to ours

" I  don't have to worry about the anchor"

Along the river                                                       

Seen along the way

We visited this site

Our boat took us here

Whatever you say is fine with me

A surprise banquet on board

HUE

Most of the day spent with guide and driver. Drove to Hue.
Lunch arranged by guide.  After lunch we left the restaurant to get back into the car.
"No, you now take cyclo"      What??

Two bicycle chairs.  Pedalers are scrubby looking, teeth missing   

We were pedaled thru the city  in the midst of heavy traffic (motor scooters, cars, other cyclos) along wide boulevards.  About 20 minutes. No sign of our guide or anything familiar.
 I kind of know where Bob is but can't make contact or
         see   him.
                                            Should I be scared?  
              NO     THIS IS FUN
  Stopped at the   FORBIDDEN CITY .   Ah, Bob is here too.

Where  is our guide??  Pedlars saying "Tip, tip"
What do we do now?? We do not have our passports or anything.  Everything is in our car.  What if this is a "set- up"?
      Too many movies and mystery books come to mind
                      Ridiculous      Really?
After about 10 minutes our guide appears, apologetic .....
There is preparation for a festival and the street is closed.

Experienced the Forbidden City with the guide.
   Huge, impressive and interesting.  A UNESCO site

Hot and tired we cut the tour short at 3:30 and went to the hotel.  The guide registered for us while we sat in a beautiful cool lounge and had a "welcome drink" .

It is now a morning later and I am on our large private patio.
Bob made coffee in our room and we sit here looking at the Perfume River.  No schedule.  Birds chirping.
What will this day bring????