Amazing Indeed!

Our arrival in Hanoi was 1 and a 1/2 hours earlier than expected which meant that we were hanging out in front of the train station at 4:30 in the morning. This caused a small problem because our pickup from the hotel was not due come until 6. So after waiting in the rain (we heard it had been raining for 3 days straight before we got to Hanoi) for a little while trying to figure out what to do we decided to get a taxi.

The taxi seemed great at first. He had some great techno beats going and we zipped around the empty streets of Hanoi. Then we noticed that his meter was jumping up quite quickly. We probably should have got out of the taxi but it was really early and we weren't sure that we'd be able to get another one so we sucked it up and paid. Oh well, lesson learned.

Our hotel is located a couple blocks away from Sword Lake which is a gorgeous place to go for a walk after dinner or have a coffee at the cafe. Our first day we just wandered around the lake taking in the scenery and relaxing in the room after the long train ride. The next day we headed out to the Temple of Literature which is Vietnam's oldest university. There are turtle statues that have the graduates of the university's stories inscribed on them and we went up and down the isles of turtles petting their heads for good luck.

We grabbed a taxi back to our hotel and stopped on the way to buy tickets for a very Vietnamese art form, Water Puppet Theatre. The show started at 5pm the next day and although Ryan thought that there needed to be more explosions and some puppet ninjas it was very cool. After the theatre we went back to the room and started packing for our Halong Bay tour that was scheduled for the next day.

The bus that was due to pick us up and take us to Halong Bay arrived a little late because we switched hotels and although we informed the tour company the message did not get passed on. After a 15 minute delay they found us and we were on our way out of the city for the 3.5 hour drive. We arrived at the our amazing boat and had a wonderful lunch before checking into our cozy little room. Words cannot even begin describe Halong Bay. It was way more impressive and awesome than either of us could have ever imagined.

The tour's first stop was Amazing Cave and it was indeed amazing. As we walked in it was a little underwhelming because the first area in the cave was a little small but each area got bigger until we were in a huge cavern that was stunning. They had some of the spots lit up with colored lits which gave the cave a very surreal feeling to it.

Once we got back on the boat we had a little time to change to get ready for kayaking. We hopped into a tandem kayak and paddled into a small cave which had a roof about 6 feet above you. At the other end of the cave, it opened up into a lagoon and the only entrance to the lagoon was the cave that we had just passed through. It was beautiful so we took our time and slowly paddled around enjoying the scenery and watching the birds circle over the large peaks jutting out of the water. I must admit that Ryan did most of the hard work during the kayaking and I'm really glad that he knew how to steer and has such strong arms!

We were quite hungry after our (well Ryan's) strenous excercise but the tour schedule allowed us a little free time before dinner to swim or take photos. Swimming would have been nice because it was crazy hot on the boat but when we looked down into the water we noticed that it was teeming with jellyfish. These jellyfish were not the harmless little kind either, they had tentacles about 5 feet long and looked painful. We decided that maybe swimming wasn't the best idea especially after we heard that one of the other guests on the boat had been stung a little earlier and did not enjoy the experience.

Dinner was served at about 7:30 and there must have been about 8 courses of the tastiest food that was so well presented. There were fruits that were carved in the shape of the boat and a pineapple that was hollowed out with a candle in it like a little pineapple jack o lantern. We were so full after the meal so we went up to the top of the boat and watched the stars from the sun deck. We hadn't seen so many stars in the sky since we were kids and it was truly an epic and romantic evening.

Click here for more photos of Hanoi and Halong Bay

Hot Days in Hue

Our time in Hue has been absolutely amazing! We are a little sad to be leaving here tommorow to head to Hanoi but we are excited for the new adventures that await us. If it is anything like what we experienced in Hue then I am sure that we will not be disappointed.

We are headed there by train which is the same way that we arrived here in Hue and a 18 hour train ride is an adventure in and of itself. We arrived at the station in Ho Chi Minh at around 11am and had a coffee while we waited to board the train. Once onboard coach 10 we headed to our cabin and found our soft sleeper bunks. I had top bunk which I later came to regret because the air conditioning vent was right above me making the bunk very cold. As well, the overhead light stayed on all night. No worries though, I still had a decent sleep considering the swaying from the train that ensued all night as well as the jarring stops when we arrived at stations along the way.

It was about 6am when we got to the train station in Hue. The boss of the hotel that we are staying at was there with a sign to pick us up. Since he came on a scooter he arranged a taxi for us and then paid the tab when we got to the hotel. We were then treated to a surprise. Since the hotel was booked up we had been upgraded to the family suite. We had a living room, 2 beds and a flat screen television that swivels between the two areas. It is a gorgeous room!

We headed out to find a close restaurant and realized that we were no where near the tourist area of town and the eating options with English menus or staff are pretty much non-existant. There is a supermarket close by so we headed there and stocked up on snacks, drinks and got a few slices of pizza. The lack of English on menus didn't stop us when we went to have a coffee at the Violet cafe. Ryan figured out where the section of coffees was on the menu but there were many options to choose from. He picked one at random and we were pleasantly suprised when we got Vietnamese coffee with milk. This wasn't ordinary milk but condensed sweet milk. This is a treat that we will be taking back with us for sure, it was so tasty!

A couple days later we went on a whirlwind tour of the sights in and around Hue. The tour started with a trip to the Imperial Citadel. Next was the garden house where the grandfather of the emperor once lived. Afterwards we were off to the Thien Mu pagoda which sits on the top of a hill and has amazing views of the perfume river and the surrounding area. We flew through these sites very quickly so it was a welcome treat to relax for a little while and have lunch. The meal was done buffet style with many yummy options and we ate our fill before hopping back on the bus and head to the tomb of emperor Minh Mang.

The tomb was on expansive and beautifully treed grounds. Our tour guide gave us a little information about the emperor, he had 400 wives and supposedly got 4 of them pregnant in one night! Our guide joked that the reason this emperor died so early at the age of 50 was due to the fact that he had so many wives (and concubines) and about 160 children.

Tu Duc was the next emperor's tomb that we visited. He was the emperor that was in power when the French took control of Vietnam. He felt that he was not a good emperor because of that as well as the fact that he was not able to have any children due to getting smallpox when he was a child. The stele where the emperor's record their autobiography was self critical and the pond near his tomb that is normally full of water was left empty at his request to show his remorse for what he felt was a poor rule by him. The area that this emperor was buried on was even larger than the last tomb that we visited and we took some time to wander around before getting back on the bus with the rest of the tour group.

On the way back to the city we ditched the bus and instead travelled by dragonboat down the perfume river. It was a very calming way to end a whirlwind trip around Hue.

Check out more photos of our time in Hue here

Lions, Tigers and Bears! Oh my!

The bus ride from Sihanoukville to Ho Chi Minh city was the longest one that we have been on yet. We left Cambodia at 8am and did not arrive at our hotel in HCMC until 9pm. We may have been able to shed an hour off that time but we had a small complication when we got to the Cambodia-Vietnam border. Our passports and visas checked out just fine but when the health officials boarded the bus to check for swine flu symptoms one of the passengers on the bus had a fever. This caused a chain reaction of officials getting on the bus, then off, then back on, then the traveller with the fever got off, then back on with a mask. After about an hour of being held up and not being allowed to get off the bus we were on our way.

The bus pulled up in Ho Chi Minh city and since we had done a little research before we showed up, we found our hotel just a block away from where the bus dropped us off. The Elios Hotel is gorgeous and we have completely enjoyed our stay here so far. Free breakfast at the rooftop restaurant is very tasty and the view from the outdoor terrace is amazing. There is a great park across the street from the hotel. After dinner the park is a hive of activity. Vietnamese people use the park for large aerobic sessions, walking, stretching, and all types of exercising.

Our second full day in Ho Chi Minh was spent at the Saigon Zoo which is one of the oldest zoos in the world. It was built in 1865 and was much better than we had anticipated. There were lions and tigers and bears! Also, hippos and pygmy hippos, rhinos, crocodiles, and giant squirrels. Our favorite by far were the Asian leopard cats. These are the cats that form the wild percentage of our cat at home, a Bengal named Naji. I could have stayed and watched them all day. Their mannerisms were so similar to our cat that it was like being with her for a little bit.

After the zoo we hopped in a cab and headed back to the hotel so that we coud find a nice place for dinner. I must add that the cabs and the cab drivers here have been phenomenal! They always put the meter on and the prices are very reasonable. Many of them don't speak any English but our hotel staff have been very helpful translating which was required yesterday when we tried to get to the Independance Palace.

Going to the Independance Palace was like going back in time to the 70's. They have left the palace in much the same condition that it was in when tanks broke down the gates and ended the war in 1975. There was a replica of that tank in front as well as an american plane and helicopter. The highlight for me was the basement which housed the command center and radio equipment. The presidents office and reception room on the second floor were also magnificent. There was also a gambling room with a round sofa, mahjong table and barrel bar and a private movie theater.

Our next stop in Vietnam is Hue (which we have mispronouced many times to the travel agents amusement) and we will be travelling there by train on Tuesday. It is about a 20 hour train ride and we have soft sleeper seats booked. I'm so excited, I've got dibs on the top bunk!

Want to see more photos of HCMC? Click here!