Well, I successfully made it through China and moved my trip down the coast to Northern Vietnam. I decided to base myself in the Capital of the country, Hanoi. Hanoi is located in the center of the Northern part of the country and is a great location to base onself for trips to the amazing sites that this part of the country has to offer.
Upon ariving in Hanoi, I checked into my hostel and set out to explore the city. The first thing that I decided to check out was the Ho Chi Minh Mosoleum Complex. For those of you who dont know, Ho Chi Minh is to Vietnam what Chairman Mao is to China (Basically the most important person in the history of Vietnam.) Inside of the complex, I was actually able to see his preserved body. It was a little bit weird, but interesting at the same time. After checking that out, I decided to go check out the War Museum. This was very interesting as well (especially being from the U.S.A.) It was full of relics and artifacts from the Vietnam War and although the captions were in Vietnamese, I was able to get a really good idea of what the war was all about and what happened. After the War Museum, I decided to spend the afternoon walking around the lake that is at the center of the city. Although I did not see any, it is said that there are a extreemly rare species of ancient tortise that still inhabit the lake. Finally, after my walk around the lake, I headed to a "Water Puppet" show. This is a form of traditional Vietnamese entertainment and is literally a puppet show over the water. The puppets are held up by sticks and are run by people behind a curtain. It was really interesting and was something that I probably cannot see anywhere else. After the puppet show, I called it a night and prepared for my adventure in Halong Bay the following day.
The next day, I took off for one of Vietnam's most famous sites, Halong Bay. Halong Bay is located three hours east of Hanoi and is basically a bay with hundreds of limestone rock formations jutting straight out of the water. Becasue they are in such close proximity to one another, they create a bay full of little coves, caves, and inlets. Upon our arrival, we boarded our boat and took off. After cruising around for the afternoon, we visited a "floating village" (Literally a village of houses that were floating on the water) where we rented sea kayaks and took off to explore the bay under our own power. The current was strong but we managed to fight through it and wound up at the enterance to an amazing cave that had formed over thousands of years of errosion from the ocean. Upon our arrival, we beached our kayaks and went in to explore the cave. We crawled through the pitch black for a while and then came out on the other side to a lake. This lake had formed by rain water accumulating over the years in an area that was completly closed off by rocks from the surrounding ocean. After checking out the cave for a while, we headed back to the kayaks to make the return journey to our boat. Upon returning to the boat, we had an afternoon of relaxing and swimming before a night of fun with everyone on board.
The next day, upon waking up, we headed to an island among the many rock formations. This island is called Cat Ba Island and is the largest island in the bay. It is the only inhabited island in the bay and it is where we would make our home for the next day. Upon arriving at the island, we set out for a hike through the jungle in order to summet the highest peak on the island. After reaching the peak, the view was unreal. Basically, we were able to see 360 degreese and could see endless rock formations set among the turquoise water of the bay. It is definitely a site I will never forget. After the hike, we settled down in our hotel for the rest of the day. We stayed on the island that night and in the morning, re-boarded our boat and headed back to port. Upon returning to Hanoi, I had just enough time for a shower before I had to turn around and catch the all night train up to the hills of Sapa.
After taking the train all night, we arrived in the hill town of Sapa. This is a town full of indigenous peoples and is the basis for trecks into the mountains of the surrounding region. Upon arriving, we met our guide and set out for a two day treck through the rice paddies and mountains of the surrounding area. The first day, we trecked 15 KM through some of the most beautiful scenery that I have seen in a while. We walked through endless rice fields, and little villages until we came to the village that we were to stay in that night. Instead of staying in a hotel, we were lucky enough to be able to do a "homestay." We literally got to sleep in the home of one of the local indigenous families. They prepared a very good traditional Vietnamese meal for us and let me just say that no one was left hungry.
After waking up, we set out for the second day of trekking. This time, in addition to more rice fields and villages, we were treated to the beautiful sight of a massive waterfall and a bamboo forest. Again, these are two sights that I am not likely soon to forget. After some lunch, we met our jeep and headed back to Sapa in order to catch the night train back to Hanoi.
Well that is what I have been up to over the last week or so. Its off to Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia tomorrow so be sure to check back soon for more updates!
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