hanoi to ho chi minh city in two and a half weeks

After enjoying our time in Vietnam's northern capital of Hanoi, we made our way to the southern metropolis formerly (and mostly still) known as Saigon, stopping along the way in various towns and cities. It was interesting to watch the landscape and atmosphere change as we made our way south. It got a lot hotter, the rice was taller, the houses were a different style, and the focus on the American War became more and more intense as we entered regions where most of the fighting took place. We pushed ourselves to go to interesting places and see and learn as much as possible. Then we hit the beach and took a vacation. :) Here are some photos from our journey to the south of Vietnam:

First up was Hue, the former capital of Vietnam with lots of history. We visited royal tombs, the citadel, and other important monuments from the age of the Nguyen emperors. Some of these also had connections with the war, as Hue is not far from the former demilitarized zone that separated the north and south. Jesse took a DMZ tour with a former South Vietnamese officer, and saw a lot of the important war sites.


Next we detoured inland to Bach Ma National Park, where we hiked around, swam in cool mountain pools, gazed at beautiful waterfalls, and picked up a leech or two.

Hoi An was just a little bit south, famous for its tailor shops and old preserved buildings. We enjoyed both of these very much. But as someone said to us, “In Hoi An, the Vietnamese are the minority.” Not exactly what we were looking on this trip.


So we went even further inland and off the tourist trail, this time taking a 12-hour public bus to a dusty town in the central highlands called Kontum. For the first time, we actually had to learn some Vietnamese phrases to get by. As Vietnam is home to 54 different ethnic groups (the Viet people making up 84%) we were especially interested in learning about some of the ethnic minorities in the area. We visited several villages with a local guide and even spent the night in one of them, in their central town hall-type building.

Time was going quickly and we planned to spend one night in the beach town of Nha Trang before rushing on to Ho Chi Minh City and then to Cambodia before our visas expired. But after spending a couple hours on the beach looking out at blue, blue water and enjoying inexpensive full-body massages on the beach, we decided to get our visas extended and finish our time in Vietnam a little more leisurely.

Our final stop on the way to Ho Chi Minh City, Mui Ne, was one of our favorites. We stayed at a nice little resort right on the beach for only $6/a night. The best part was that there was also great scenery around. We rented a motorbike and rode out to a red canyon, some sand dunes, and a place called the "Fairy Stream,"which was, actually, quite enchanting.


And that brought us to Ho Chi Minh City!

mishaps, involving leeches

Jesse and I brought a first aid kit with us on the trip, but I honestly didn't think we'd ever use it. How wrong I was. We've actually run out of bandaids. We've both been burnt by motorbike exhaust pipes (Jesse twice). Not surprisingly, we've also had our fair share of welt-like bug bites, sunburn, and poison ivy (or something like it).

But by far the most interesting of all our mishaps was the one that occurred while we were staying in a national park in central Vietnam, hiking to some waterfalls. Towards the end of the day, I was sitting down admiring a really beautiful waterfall. When I stood up, I noticed a large amount of blood covering the front of my pants! I didn't feel any pain so couldn't figure out what it might be. I finally found a tiny spot on my leg that all the blood was coming from. And then I remembered that I had read that there were a lot of leeches in the park, and figured that must be it. We tried to stop the blood with layers and layers of gauze, but hours later, it was still bleeding as hard as ever!

At dinner, I asked one of the park tour guides about it and he said, no problem, he'd get me something to stop the bleeding. Jesse and I waited for him to come back with a tube of ointment, but instead, he showed up with a tree stump that was covered in orange hairy moss and started pulling some off. When I got back to the room, I covered the spots with the moss and within minutes the bleeding slowed down and then stopped. WIERD!

halong bay

We took a three-day trip from Hanoi to Halong Bay and it was beautiful! Large limestone karsts (whatever that means) jutting out of blue-green water. We went to a cave, went kayaking and spent the night on a boat. We also met a really nice couple from Sweden and another from Australia, two French guys, and our silly tour guide Doan . . . who all made the trip especially enjoyable.

hanoi streets (for rachel:)

My friend Rachel lived in Hanoi a while back, and when I knew I was going there, it was fun to find out from her what she had enjoyed about the city. I found myself doing all the things she mentioned were nice and enjoying all the things she said she had enjoyed . . . especially the food, bikes, and people. I thought Hanoi had great atmosphere. I loved the tiny street stalls with little plastic tables and little plastic stools where we could buy spring rolls and other treats. I loved the ladies selling fruit from baskets hung from a bamboo rod on their shoulder, bouncing with every step. I loved the conical hats, motorbikes, cafes, yellow plaster-peeling walls, leftover French architecture, and the smiles of the people we met. It was a really great introduction to Vietnam. Here are some pictures:

china highlights

Jesse and I spent a couple of days in Shenzhen, China, a place with not much to do. But we still enjoyed our time there. We ate a lot of great (cheap) food. We felt like true travelers as we couldn't communicate with anyone (as an untouristed town, there was very little English). And I learned a valuable lesson: children doing cute little tricks on the street are not doing them for fun. After I paused to admire the talents of a little girl doing this cool thing with a board, cylinder and cooking pot, her little sister chased me down and wrapped her arms around my leg until I gave them some money for the pleasure of watching them.

We spent a lot of time on the train in China. We inadvertantly bought tickets for a night train on the Chinese New Year's Eve, so we missed any celebration there might have been. But we shared a compartment with a little Chinese girl and her parents, and we played together all evening (while the parents sat off to the side eating BBQ chicken feet). On another train, we were in the party car. We were surrounded by a crazy family of 15-20 adults and kids. They were verrrrrry happy to be traveling together and the whole six hours was a mess of laughing, talking, card-playing, noodle-sloshing, musical chairs. We cycled the whole family through dinner time by moving from seat to seat to make room at the little table. We couldn't communicate easily, but we got lots of snacks and made a little small-talk with the couple who originally sat across from us.

The highlight of our time in China was the scenery in the Guilin area, the main "sight" we were stopping to see while crossing overland from Hong Kong to Vietnam. The best part was renting bicycles to ride around the countryside, then taking a bamboo raft back down the river for two hours. It was dusk and we were the only ones on the river for most of the two hours. Here's a picture: