Boog's Blog

Feb 2. Evening before and after dinner

Last day of being a tourist in Hanoi – very ready to be back on the road. Took a short ride to nowhere today just to get my legs back and test out my butt. So far so good.

One pic is the One Pillar Pagoda near the HCM Mausaleum. Another is a Buddha from the same pagoda. The third and final is from the water puppet show.

All would have loved the one stringed instrument -a ancient one in Vietnam. Saw the same instrument being placed at the Temple of Literature and Learning (1000 year old university in the center of Hanoi with the teachers being venerated in exactly the same way as the Buddha). If one did not look at the statuary one would think that the Buddah was on the podium.

In 'ancient' times women were not allowed to listen to music from this horizonal one stringed gourdish shaped with vertical thin piece of wood to vary the pitch instrument. It was feared that they would be immediately and permanently infatuated with the player.

Tomorrow we cycle out the the Perfume Pagoda, full day ride. Finally back on the road. As I joined two trips not quite back to back there was an intérval between them.

In response to some general QB questions.

Mahayana with Boddavistas. From China via India.

Pho not yet really good. Hotel and local tourist places are not the best way to test out. Will know more after being on the road again.

Had a good lunch today with a wide variety of dishes, some I had not seen before. Pork in a sweet cream sauce, pineapple flambe, individual bamboo shaped clay pot filled with meat and onions and spices, as well as the usual veggies, lotus root with papaya salade, noodle soup, shrimp etc. Far too much food as you can imagine.

Getting to start to know the riders and their interests and histories. Suspect we will spread out quite a bit tomorrow. Some of the travellers are clearly real shoppers – shoes of course, but will in desperation buy anything.

Dinner at Four Brothers a good buffet.

Off at 7 am, yeah.

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Feb 1. Lunchtime and evening

Several hour walk a success in the sense saw no other tourists as I wandered north east and further east.

Small and large streets filled with narrow frontage commerce.

Smells, meats, obstacles everywhere. Teaming with life.

Wonderful visit with a group of smiling children. Photo on camera.
Lunch by West lake.

Lotus root salad with shrimp and pork.

QB posed some questions (private communication ibid.)

Is the food different in the North? In general no. Less spicy, ingredients more meat and less fish, vegtables less fresh, fruit does not look as good or taste as good. So far, but it is very early, the South wins hands down for freshness. As clolser to China more wheat products. Good bread. Poor pastries.

Of course maybe too soon to generalize as Hanoi is not Vietnam and it is still, in effect two countries. Their are excellent and terrible restaurants in Hanoi, just like any big city. Dinner at a local seafood place last evening was excellent and the seafood buffet, ibid. , had some wonderful crab and grilled prawns.

Previous riders, not much discussed. Scott and Ben, a father and son combo were a delight to travel with. Both were stronger riders so I watched their dust settle most days. Excellent breakfast and dinner companions. Ben, a San Fran architech. Scott, a vet in his youth, knew a bit of the aréa and could provide some interesting prospectives. We will exchange photos in the future.

On this trip there are 15 fellow travellers. Will be a very different trip. The riding has not started as yet, some still
arriving and some more touristing to do. Los Gatos, Ottawa, and Northern Georgia and Walnut creek so far. Met the rest at dinner tonight. One image of some in group.

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Jan 31. 15:45

Rice
Walking Tour
Food

Rice first. Havé been thinking about the history of Vietnam, a history of war and repeated attempts for control. Our recent past may have been for oil but double that two millenia were anything but rice and resources.

This was not clear until I got to the North. In SaPa one rice crop in a good season. In Hanoi and a bit South one crop and maybe two a bit further South.

Mekong – up to four crops let along fruit etc.

Rice is food to stop the starvation, power and money. Easy to see why adjoining countries all wanted the resources as well as the Ocean for fish. Then oil. These wonderful people sure have suffered from a bounty of relative wealth.

Took a longish walking tour of the city today.

The North and South are culturally, architecturally, economically, and socially two different countries.

HCMC is small entrepreneurial commerce on every square inch. Dirty and alive and vibrant.

Hanoi is closer to a modern city without the really heavy traffic that they will soon have. Wide streets, crossable streets, taller older buildings with lots of history and tourist items to see. Old city of markets, large lakes with a very special one in the center, many pagodas, some from the 11th century, several Catholic churches.

Finished walk too late to eat at a restaurant. Lunch starts and stops very early and 14:00 is too late to get served. So, resorted to the hotel. Glad that I did.

Fab buffet. Fresh, moments old, sweetwater crab. Boiled while I waited. Giant prawns grilled while I waited, small fish similarly prepared. I munched on shrimp, spring rolls, clams, lotus beef salad and Pompalo (close to grapefruit) salad mixture. The crabs were sweeter than Dungness but had to compare as mine was right out of the pot and still too hot to eat.

Fruit, cheese and non-mentionable ( to Tom at least ) chocolate, French style, deserts. I will most definitely eat again, often.

Will close this section with a comment on the Pagodas. Each are set in lovely places, are landscaped with Bonsai and old trees with benches and cool spots to sit. Another perfect weather day – the tourism office should be paying for my travels.

It is a hard life here. Might go for a massage.

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Jan 31. 15:30
Wrote this but could not send it when I was in Sapa

After arriving Hanoi got picked up and taken to the
Victoria Orient Express. Trains do not, I suspect get
much better than this. I upgraded to a private cabin
and had enough space to live well. Mostly French on
the train with the Victoria staff speaking both French
and English.

The bed was a fine feather coverlet, warm enough for
the ride up North. Sa Pa is not far from the Chinese
border and is in the mountains, read cooler to colder.

Does not get much better. Plugged into the iPod,
Beethoven 4th and 9th (great Ode on the Von Karian
version) and watched small villages melt away as I
dozed off.

Coffee served in the am. Toilet spotless and about
the same size as mine at home. Modern, with even a
handheld 'douce'.

After getting off the train onto a small mini van for
the 30km ride up to Sa Pa. Up meaning climbing about
5000 feet to this mile high local. Wonderful misty am
as we embarked around 7 am. As we got up higher the
mist lifted and found a beautiful bright cool sunny
day. Passed houses much newer and bigger than in
the Mekong. Temperate trees on one side and banana on
the other. Probably about 50 degrees.

Had breakfast and then took a walk around Sa Pa. Sat
a while by the lake and just took in the beauty.
Mountains all around. Somewhat sleepy town, charming,
quiet, modern (eight years ago one small hotel, now
167 I am told but they blend in nicely) built in
colonial style with the colors of Provance.

As I walked the markets found it hard to browse. The
local H'Moung are very aggressive. "Buy from me, buy
from me" and every shop puts pressure. Cannot just
look up close. Lots of very nice and colorful fabrics
and cloths for sale. Just have no need for more
'stuff'.

The people look more like the Han Chinese or those
from Tibet. One of the locals told me that when he
goes to the South he is not taken for being
Vietnamese.

Wonderful walking or trekking area. Steep hills and
local town is like walking around San Francisco.
Something to see with each turn of the head.

Dinner with the International Yellow Camimilia Society.

Helped an 88 year old with his email and later that evening he and party invited me to join then for dinner. Betty (90 and a real grande dame immediately asked me if minded taking off my hat – it was not a question).

These folks are part of a large international society (see their web site) that meets reguluarly around the world for congresses on Yellow Cammilias. Apart from a genuine interest in the flowers they all like to travel.

John, and Englishman who lives in a covered wagon in the UK – litterally as I saw pictures – is retired and takes jobs teaching English in China. He started when he suggested it to his daughter and she scoffed. 10 years later he has lots of good stories and is a genuine character in the best way.

After a pleasant but not especially good set menu dinner and a long conversation the elders started to fade.

Morning was a ride to Lao Cai and then off to a local 'market' of the Tay and H'Moung people. To call this a road is to call a dirt road a super six lane highway. Maybe a bit of dynamite and a pass with a bulldozer when the road was wet so that the rocks would set.

The market is held weekly. Excellent photos I believe. A real local market of ethnic minorities in local dress. A few tourists but not many.

Did some purchasing of oranges and sundries just to be part of the game. Bargained them way down (Sara would have been proud of me until I then paid them more than they had originally asked and watched them discuss it among themselves. Agreed to accept my ignorance or munificance or stupidity – who knows).

To avoid the rough ride back we took a boat for 60 minutes down a tributary of the red river. Looks very similar to how the Colorado cut the Grand Canyon. Smaller but still a grand scale. The tour company will soon do kayak trips down river.

Spent an hour wandering a rural village. Very different in architecture (high rooms, two levels, wood of good quality with a full absence of tile, livestock downstairs, along with the ubiquitious TV set).

Ran into a tourist who was in my entering class at Harpur College – Summer of 1963. A class of 200 students. Neither of us remembered the other and had no persons in commen – Lois studied French. Was definitely there when I was.

Drove to the Chinese border, on the other side of the Red River in Lao Cai.

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Jan 31 11 am
Ngoc son temple bridge old quarter.

Perfect day, again.

5 km walk to temple via old city center and teeming market.

North and South seem like two different countries. South is commerce while North seems more peaceful and certainly more historic.

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Jan 28 9 PM
On the Orient Express to Sapa.

Hanoi much more developed with modern roads and older buildings. Easy ride from airport, 40 km.

Train is French speaking. Should be a good comfortable ride. Too bad it will be dark most of way.

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Jan 27 20:00.

Writing this in advance of my trip to Sa Pa or Sapa in the North.

Not sure when I will have good connectivity for long enough so this advance posting.

Sapa is a ethic area North of Hanoi, in the mountains and not too far from China. Not so easy to reach but supposed to be spectacular. Home of many of the Vietnamese ethic minorities in their native dress. In a dozen years these may be gone but travelers I have met on the road, backpackers mostly, say it is a must see for now.

One flys to Hanoi (I will do that tomorrow my time) then one takes a train – it goes all night so I have booked a sleeper – and arrives in the am. Then the hotel booked for me in Sapa (another of the Victoria chain hotels ) will send a driver to take me up the mountain. Only 30 km up the mountain but takes about 90 minutes. Steep road.

Not much to report on today as I wandered, pleasently, around the city. A much cooler day. For now have seen enough of HCMC and am ready to move to another area. After Sapa for one or two nights I go back to Hanoi and start the bike riding again.

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Jan 26 23:45 local time

Serendipity and the Monk.

How is that for a title . How can you not continue reading?

Yesterday started with a ride south to Long Vinh, on the coastal side of the Mekong. I had asked Vietnam Tourist to put together an interesting experiance and a stay with a rural family on a orchard was planned. First the ride by car to the general area then a small boat to an island in the middle of Mother River.

We took along bikes, we being Thrang, my ever helpful and delightful guide, and myself. (As a side note Thrang is the one that invited me to both the wedding of his friend and then upon my return from the Northern trip to join his family for Tet).

Got to the island and we biked around for a while. Got to see this beautiful rural area. The island is home to about 4000 inhabitants, most having small fruit farms and wonderful gardens. A jungle swamp area with waterways and small roads everywhere.

The "road" is what we would call a sidewalk. Good concrete, not cracked and the same width as our sidewalks. Naturally two way motorbike traffic. The offshoot roads are dirt and much smaller. Some the width of my two feet. A real maze but fortunately people know their way arround.

We stopped at a pagoda, one about 250 years old. A monk was in charge, a pious one. We asked about the pagoda and talk let to an offer of tea and it turned out California Raisons sold by a Malaysian company. We discussed some details of confucianism and budhism and then he invited Thrang and I to dinner. We were both quite suprised.

After going to the homestead, a farmer and his wife, both in their sixties and looking older – much older – than we do at that age, but without any arthritus and able to squat and work on the ground, we had tea as a welcome. Fruit orchard, Longons mostly but other fruit as well. They live a self contained life with items from the farm and the mother river. When hot water was needed the wife squatted down, built a fire in a clay pot and put a pot filled with water for boiling.

Outdoor squatter plumbing, bucket over the head for showering, tiled floor or tiled platform for sleeping. The tiled platform was given to me and they put up a mosquito net. She and he slept on the floor, same tile, same .25 inch thick tatami mat. A little harder than we are used to.

After some moré tea went back to the Pagoda for dinner. It was fabulous. Enough food for 20 or so. He did not eat as he eats his one meal before noon. Was prepared by the junior monks who ate the leftovers. Pictures of the food in the main camera.

Discussion was on the importance of taking care of one's parents. More Confucian wisdom, training and placement in the karhma of Budhisim. Dinner was noodles with Thai type Tom Yum soup, cha Gio, rolltemps, Bahn something, frozen milk yogurt. All vegetarian but one would have guessed that the shrimps looking items were real shrimp; they wére not. Everything was especially well prepared. He then had me tour his kitchen and sanitary facilities. Naturally spotless, something he considered important.

As mentioned his is 81. Was a rich disco and diamond merchant but in 1993 he gave it all up and gave away all he had to move to the pagoda and pray.

Now it was dark and we took a boat back to the other part of the island. Pitch black a guide met us at the quay and then, with a flashlight, walked us through the maze of the jungle.

To sleep around 9 PM after some tea and talk with the homeowners. Roosters started first round at 03:30 and second and final round at 05:30 so up by 6 am. Fortunately the night was cool and though a bit hard I got a good night's sleep.

Took an early morning walk, see picture of road outside the home.

Breakfast of fresh eggs, a longer walk, a nap on a hammack (quite comfortable if hard to get in and out of) and then a special lunch made for us. Included fish and banana fritters and some special snack of rice powder and coconut paste steamed on banana leaves. Pictures in the camera.

Back to the boat for an hour ride around the island and then towards Saigon. Driver met us and picked us and the bikes up. Back just in time for the wedding.

Large Asian style affair. Combination business responsibilty for all in both companies and related businesses and maybe a few friends. 500 or so guests. The quality of the food and service was first class plus some. Not a rubber chicken at all. One pic of one dish -there were maybe 7 rounds of dishes like the one pictured each different and interesting. Then a few grapes and everyone got up an left. Took pictures with the couple on the way out. Very friendly and welcoming and gratious.

The wedding was at a dedicated wedding place with hostesses, moving walkways, children dancers (children of the staff), father speeches. Very similar to Tom's in Japan without the rice ceremony.

Finished the evening with a visit to a Jazz club.

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Jan 24 22:30 local time

Just back from dinner at a fabulous seafood restaurant.

Prawns, clams in spicy brown sauce, oysters (cooked and spiced differently), seafood noodle dish, Thai Tom Yum soup.

Picture is of part of dinner.

The table next to us had a birthday party. Cake included with the Happy B'Day song. Got up to take a picture, with their permission, and they gave me a glass of the celebratory drink (not Champagne but a fruit juice packaged as Champagne). Very hospitable.

Turns out that they started singing Happy B'Day about 10-15 years ago when the economy got better. In earlier years they were scrambling for food and cloths and birthdays were not celebrated.

Thrang, my guide from the first trip, very gratiously invited me to both a wedding of a friend and best of all to have Tet with his family. He cleared it with his grandmother. Talk about welcoming and friendly! Will report on the wedding on Friday – I think that is when it is.

Off in the morning to a 'home visit'. Just me and Thrang and a driver .

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Jan 21 15:00. Previous one was at 14:00 -forgot to timestamp and forgot to cover another topic – the people.

First, the children. Havé seen very few in HCMC. They are ubiquitious in the countryside.

The children are always smiling and laughing and happy to say hello and hold your hand and jump around you. They are a joy to see. By US standards they have nothing, not even anything resembling clean drinking water. Hot humid in this the dry season and somewhat locked up in the wet season. Apparently few can swim so many are lost when the Mekong floods. The markers on the houses showed floods vary from 2 feet to 7 feet depending upon the year.

As the countryside is farming and the government allows them (crop rotation) a maximum of three crops they often have 3 months of no work. The young boys and girls as well as the oldér adults walk around trying to get you to buy lottery tickets. One of the few sources of income. Not a good job as you can imagine and at times quite intrusive.

Near the ferries noticed considerable begging and tugging at my shorts. In the city I am stopped or I should say approached at least one time per minute. Massage? Motor bike? Cyclo? Hello, where are you from ( they want me to use them as a guide or go on a ride around the city with them and have no concept or too much need to accept that I just want to wander).

I discussed the commerce earlier. As I wander many or maybe most shopkeepers intrude. They seem to have little undérstanding of 'just looking'. I do not think they have as yet learned that they might sell a bit better if they were not so insistant on showing and pushing a sale.

The hotel staffs have been uniformly nice and professional. Might be the class hotel we have stayed at but all try to please. Minibars are at US retail prices. Coke about $2.50 from the minibar.

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