Vietnam

Hey all. So we’re on our last stretch of the voyage, just started finals, and headed for Costa Rica. Life was busy after Malaysia. We had just three days on the ship until we ported in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam for almost a week. Then we spent another two days on the ship before arriving in Hong Kong; my starting point for a adventure around China, traveling to Beijing and then to Shanghai where we met our vessel. Once again only two days on the ship until we hit Kobe, Japan. I got a couple quick Kobe beef steaks before hopping on a bullet train to see Mt. Fuji and then on to Tokyo where we met the ship to start the last legs our journey. A little over a week on the ship to catch up on schoolwork and reflect on the four countries we explored in a little over a month, and then a quick stop in Hawaii for Thanksgiving. Yea it was a little intense. All except for Mt. Fuji, where we got to relax by the lake and enjoy the leaves changing Japanese style. Anyhoo, here is Vietnam...
It was exciting entering into Vietnam, a country that we’ve all heard so much about. A few days before we arrived the teachers and lifelong learners on our ship that had lived through, and even fought in, the Vietnam war shared some of their experiences. I enjoyed listening to the panel of mostly ex-hippies share with us their feelings about the war and the impact it had on them as young adults. I imagine some of us feel similar about the current turbulent times in the middle east. It seems to me, the main differences between how their generation reacted then and how ours is reacting now is the fact that they had a draft to get them fired up about. They seemed a little disappointed that our age group has failed to make a stand against unnecessary wars, but who knows maybe this recent election has proven that we want change.
Anyways, docking in Saigon (Now Ho Chi Minh City) requires floating up a narrow river that they must have dredged. From that vantage point we could see the dense jungles, and small fishing villages of southern Vietnam. Arriving in the city felt slightly like arriving in India. A slight coating of smog and pollution was visible around the city and in every direction you looked were the signs of a developing country. Once off the boat we joined the dense crowd of Semester at Sea students anxious to try out their crisp American currency in the land of cheap commodities. I’d say about 90% of the ship had their sights set on acquiring fashionable and inexpensive attire from any one of the hundreds of tailor shops that specialized in business suits and cloths. I picked a nice, modern navy blue striped silk suit for a measly 100 dollars, or almost two million dong, the Vietnamese currency. As you can imagine the name of the currency was a catalyst for all kinds of immature jokes.
The transportation situation in Vietnam was similar to that of India. 90% of the vehicles on the road were motorcycles, and you could catch a ride on one to just about anywhere in the city for a dollar, although you also risked your life. After choosing the safety of a cab to get us to the market, we proceeded to take advantage of the cheap beers, and the liberal open-container policy. In the process we acquired some traditional Vietnamese rice-farmer hats. All this bargaining was making us hungry so we sat down for a round of some street food, and a good old fashion sneaker scrub-down. The soup was delicious until I tried some of the questionable meat and realized that I was in a country that commonly ate dog, sorry Chloe.
Later that night I sampled a Vietnamese take on Mexican food and headed to a jazz club to hear some of the best live jazz of my life. A late night of solid music and good drinks was a good way to say goodbye to Saigon, because the next morning three friends (Sachin, Johnny, Travis) and I had an early flight to catch to the capital of the country Hanoi and to see one of the natural wonders of the world.
When we arrived in Hanoi a small thunderstorm was brewing in the East. We hoped that our much anticipated trip to Halong Bay to see some of the most peculiar geological formations in the world would not have to be forfeited due to weather. After an hour taxi ride from the airport to the heart of the city, we realized this wasn’t going to be any kind of passing storm. It turned out to be a weekend of the most rainfall the city had seen in thirty years. This didn’t deter us. We heard from the locals that the Bay usually had good weather so we booked a two day stay on a junk boat, as their called, to explore the bay. When we arrived in Hanoi the storm was at its peak. Walking the 100 yards to our hostel cost me a days worth of clean clothes. Since Sachin and I had already picked out and got fitted for our suits in Saigon we stayed inside to weather the storm while Johnny and Travis went out into the town to try to find a tailor. Hanoi is a very old city. It is almost 1000 years old and is built up similar to San Francisco in the narrow stacked apartment building style. Although much smaller than Saigon, I got the feeling that this city would be much more culturally rich.
Our friends got back and told us how the city was flooding but people just went about their everyday business and didn’t seem to notice. We threw on our boardshorts and went out to go investigate for ourselves. When we got out to the main road the water was knee high. Motorists didn’t seem to care and drove their bikes through it until they crapped out and had to be pushed. The occasional car would come through and would look more like a boat. We explored the small city and got soaked but eventually got some food at the most dirty Vietnamese restaurant we could find, it was delicious. At one point a rat ran across the floor beneath our feet and we questioned what meat we were eating. We went to a bar across the street and played a few rounds of pool with some locals. I ended up taking over playing the music since the DJ left and we played some jams and drank Tigers all night.
The next morning a tour guide picked us up from our hostel and drove us a few hours west to Halong. The geography began to get really cool looking with gum-drop mountains dotting the horizon and rice fields lining the highway. We arrived in Halong Bay and hopped on a junk boat that would be our home for two days while we explored the limestone islands and caves that surround the bay. Legend has it that Halong Bay was formed by the gods when they sent out a family of dragons to help defend against Chinese invaders. The dragons spit out jewels and jade that became the thousands of islands of limestone that form a wall around the bay and protect it from intruders. The geography is truly a sight to see and people are still speculating as to how the various islands may have formed. UNESCO named it a world heritage site in order to preserve the beauty and the cultural surroundings.

90% of tourists to Vietnam come through here

A few Aussies, two Vietnamese women, and a couple from the US that had been traveling Asia would be our company for the next few days, along with the guides of course. We sat down for a delicious meal of fish and noodles and began sailing out into the jungle of islands. After lunch we stopped off at one of the larger islands to explore a cave. The cave was fairly large with narrow walkways leading into large chambers. Several of the stalagmite formations resembled different things such as a large turtle that was said to bless you if you rubbed its head, an obvious buddhist influence. After wandering the cave system for a few hours, we hopped into some kayaks to explore the bay firsthand. Since it was low tide you could manage to get underneath the structure of some islands and actually go through small caves in your kayak. We soon found an island with a small beach and parked our kayaks to try to climb some of the rocks. It was difficult climbing and we didn't make it to the top, but it was cool to be on an island of that size.

Sunrise from the junk

Later that night we met some locals from one of the floating fishing villages and ate some more fish. We anchored our boats for the night, and proceeded to hassle the guides to let us jump off the top of boats into the warm water below. We succeeded in getting permission to do so and had some fun diving off the boat into the bay.
The following morning we boated around to some more islands and dropped some of our company off that had signed up for an island stay on one of the more developed islands. We jumped off the boat a few more times and headed back to the mainland to grab lunch before riding back to Hanoi. At lunch we noticed one of Vietnam's peculiar specialties, snake wine. One of the locals we were eating with told us that snake wine was really good for your health and that we needed to try it. I think we were all a little unsure. Somehow they brew a wine in the carcasses of dead snakes (gutted of course) and other reptiles, and the wine we sampled even contained a full bird, feathers and all. I wasn't going to drink it, but once I dared an Australian guy we were eating with to do it and he accepted I knew I was in for good. The stuff got your blood flowing.

One of my favorite pics

After leaving beautiful Halong Bay we headed for Hanoi to our hostel for another night of delicious food and exploration of the old city. The next day we caught our flight back to Saigon. Sachin and I went to get our suits while Travis and Johnny went to some museums and the nearby Mekong Delta. Their is so much to see in Vietnam that I wish we could have had a few more days, but we had to catch our ship to head to China, where we would all experience the heaviest culture shock thus far.

S. African Navy ship docked next to us
Check out the size of that gun!

An upscale meal in Saigon

Curbside eatery: Hanoi

Halong Bay

The local vendors in Halong

Market in Saigon

-Chris