Last Day in Hanoi

This is our last day in Vietnam. I can't believe how quickly time has passed. We left on the 8th and now its already the 24th. We fly out tomorrow. But we still have some sight seeing to do! We did a half day tour of the Red River Delta.

The Thầy Pagoda is an important one in the Red River Delta. stands for 'Master' and so it is also known as the Master Pagoda. It is a Buddhist temple. It was established in the 11th century by a Buddhist Monk by the name of Từ Đạo Hạnh. It is amongst the oldest Pagodas in Vietnam.

The road to the Pagoda was picturesque once we left the city limits. There were rows and rows of paddy fields. The farmers were busy tilling the earth preparing the plant the first crop during this Tet (New Year) festival in Vietnam.

Paddy Fields on the way to the Thầy Pagoda

The Pagoda is about 19 miles from Hanoi. It is situated on the bank of an artificial lake that the monk had gotten built. The monk was versatile. He was an inventor, having invented the art of water puppetry which is uniquely Vietnamese. In fact we witnessed a water puppetry show yesterday in Hanoi. He had a structure built in the middle of the lake and presented the very first water puppetry show in Vietnam, way back in the 11th century.

The Structure in the Middle of the Lake for Water Puppetry show


Another view of the Lake

The Pagoda is divided into 3 parts. The first part is a community hall where the community prays. The second section is dedicated to Buddha of whom there are several statues of Buddha and 'Protectors'. The third part contains statues of the monk.

The Community Hall

Statues of Buddha in the central section.

(Note the image of Buddha with a beard and mustache--this is supposedly the Indian Monk who spread Buddhism to Vietnam)

Statue of the Monk himself in the last section

Finally we visited the village So. This is a village where villagers live in the traditional manner of rural Vietnam. We first visited the home a 82-year lady who is currently one of the few women in Vietnam who have 'blackened' teeth. Blackening of teeth was considered a sign of beauty for women up until the French arrived in Vietnam. The saying was that only dogs had white teeth--beautiful women were supposed to have black teeth. After the advent of the French this tradition died away. Everyone now of course has white teeth. It is only women 80 and older who continue the tradition of black teeth. Take a look at the pictures from the village below.

Typical Home in So Villa


Lady with the 'black' teeth

Hanoi City

We got into Hanoi city last night slightly before dusk. What we saw so far is somewhat disappointing. It looks impoverished compared to Saigon. The buildings are dilapidated. In fact facing our hotel and surrounding it are tenements like you would see in Bombay. It is a paradoxical mix of odd mixture of old and new. The city is jam packed with people. There are street vendors everywhere vending anything you can think of. A large number of street vendors sell street food.

Tenements across the street from our Hotel

You can't help noticing that everyone is hawking something or the other. Vietnamese people are extremely entrepreneurial. They are also optimistic. How else can your explain a Vietnamese vendor trying to sell you a cap for 1 dollar or 3 dollars and walking away with no visible air of disappointment when you say no. There is a lot of capitalism for a country that is communist. The only visible sign of communism is the occasional flag with a hammer and a sickle.

Street Vendor across the street from our Hotel

Hanoi has gone through a lot. It was originally the capital city under the Nguyen kings, one of whom moved the capital to Hue. In the process he also trashed the city. Then the Chinese came, followed by the French. The Chinese were repelled. The French were also pushed back to the South. The French eventually left Vietnam after a humiliating defeat at Dien Bien Phu. The Americans took over and the war that resulted was devastating.

But the Vietnamese are an optimistic lot. They seem to harbor no will towards America. In fact the de facto alternative currency is the US Dollar.

Typical Street Scene in Hanoi

We started the day by visiting the statue of Lý Thái Tổ. The statue is on a square that has the French quarter to one side and the old quarter to the other side. He was the emperor and founder of the Ly dynasty in the 1st century A.D. He is viewed as the founder of Hanoi having established his capital here. The square is across the street from the Hoan Kien Lake.

Emperor  Lý Thái Tổ

The Post Office in the French Quarter

Hoan Kien stands for the lake of the returned sword. There are two legends associated with the Hoan Kien lake. In the first legend, the emperor Le Loi was confronted by a giant turtle from the lake. The turtle asked him to return the sword that the emperor used to defeat the Chinese to the dragon king. The king did and the turtle returned to the lake never to be seen again. Hence the name 'lake of the returned sword'. This lake is populated by turtles. Turtles are considered sacred by the Vietnamese.

Our guide told us that in the past year the oldest living turtle (200 years old) died. This turtle is embalmed and displayed in the Taoist temple at the end of the lake.

The second legend concerns a musician who received permission from the Vietnamese to build a memorial for Le Loi. He secretly wanted to bury his father but his plot was discovered at the last minute and thwarted. This memorial stands in the middle of the lake. It stands as a witness to the glory of Hanoi personified by the Emperor Le Loi.

The Memoriam to Emperor Le Loi in the middle of Lake Hoan Kien

There is an island in the middle of the Lake where the Pagoda Ngoc Son sits. The Pagoda is connected to the bank of the lake by a classical Vietnamese bridge painted red. This temple is dedicated to a general who defeated the Chinese. The temple is beautiful and serene. The bonsais are beautiful as always.

The Red Bridge connecting the Ngoc Son temple to the bank of the Lake

The Pagoda

A Banyan Tree Bonsai

In the afternoon we witnessed a Water Puppet Show at the Thang Long theater. This theater is located very near the Hoan Kien lake. The puppet show is a depiction of the daily lives of rural vietnam. The puppets are manipulated over water. The show is accompanied by a Vietnamese opera. The men play flutes and 'vietnamese' violins while the ladies play the drums and sing. The puppeteers are behind bamboo curtains. They did come out at the end of the show, half submerged in water! The show was great, although we didn't understand a word. But puppetry has a universal language and we understood most of it.

The Water Puppet Stage


The Male musicians


The Female musicians

Halong Bay

Ha Long Bay is on the east coast of Vietnam in the Gulf of Tonkin. Yes, this is the same Gulf of Tonkin where a supposed altercation took place between a US Navy Destroyer and Vietnam Navy speed boats. The incident has been disputed since. Nevertheless this led to a rapid escalation of the war between the US and Vietnam. However this happened far south on the coast and not anywhere near Ha Long Bay.

Ha Long stands for the Bay of Descending Dragons. Ha Long Bay is considered one of the 7 new Wonders of the World. It is about 100 miles directly to the east of Ha Noi, the capital city. We got here yesterday. 100 miles may not seem like much, but here in Vietnam it means 4 to 5 hours of driving on a highway with traffic consisting of a mix of trucks, buses, cars and motorcycles. The roads were also only two lanes with slow moving traffic blocking the right lane.

We checked out of the hotel, piled into the bus and headed to the cruise terminal. The terminal is on an island called Tuần Châu on the southwest side of Ha Long city. All along on our trip so far we have had nothing but clear skies and hot temperatures. But today we encountered a cold, cloudy, misty day. Felt like we were back in Seattle. It was not as cold though. The temperature was in the 60's. But we all brought jackets because the wind during the cruise was sure to produce some wind chill.

The day is starting out cold, cloudy and misty

The cruise terminal

Band playing traditional Vietnamese music in the Cruise Terminal

We walked through the terminal to get to the piers. The marina is lined on either side by apartment buildings. We don't what they cost but they are bound to be expensive. We are going to cruise on a traditional wooden junk boat. Note: Junk doesn't mean the boat is in bad shape. It is a designation for Chinese and Asian vessels that are sea going wooden boats. In the olden days they were all fitted with sails. But today the junk boat is driven by a diesel engine.

The Terminal Dock

Our Cruise Boat

Ha Long Bay is truly spectacular. There are over 2000 islands and islets. The islands are made mostly of limestone. They are like huge rocks that rise from the ocean. Many of these islands are hollow inside with enormous caves. We will be visiting one of these caves today. These islands are uninhabited except for a few communities that live on floating houses in the Bay. They make a living through fishing and harvesting mussels.

Halong Bay Islands

Taking a well-deserved nap--all this tourism stuff is exhausting!

Families of Fishermen in Floating Houses

After several hours of cruising through the islands we arrived at one of the caves known as Thien Cung. Thien Cung means 'Heavenly Palace'. It covers about 100,000 square feet. The opening is narrow and opens into an enormous cavern. The cave is lit in strategic places. There are three chambers. The inner chambers are covered with a large number of massive stalactites and stalagmites. The sight is simply breathtaking. The stalactites form interesting structures on the walls. Our guide indicated various formations that seem to like a dragon, a laughing buddha, a pregnant woman etc. I have some pictures posted below. But these don't really do justice.

The Thien Cung Cave

View of the Bay from Thien Cung Cave

Laughing Buddha welcoming returning Travellers

Our boat returned to the cruise terminal around 1pm. We then headed straight back to Hanoi.

Onwards to Hanoi, our last destination

We set out for Hanoi, our last destination on our itinerary before heading back home. We flew from Hue airport to Hanoi. Upon landing we heading straight out to the east cost towards Halong Bay. We'll be back tomorrow in Hanoi. Today was a travel day with very little sight seeing.

Hanoi Airport

Halong Bay is a designated World Heritage Site and is very popular with tourists. I'll describe Halong Bay in more detail in tomorrow's blog.

Halong Bay is about 190 Km or around 4 hours from Hanoi. It is all country-side from Hanoi to Halong Bay. The first thing that strikes you is the number of rice fields stretching right up to Halong Bay. Another curious thing is the number of Karaoke establishments on the outskirts of Hanoi. I asked the guide why this was so and he said that it was because the Vietnamese love Karaoke. Karaoke was introduced to Vietnam by the Japanese Fascists (as the guide liked to refer to them) during the second world war.

Although we did not get to see many sights other than the country-side that passed by us, we did get interesting narrations from the guide during the ride to Halong Bay. There was much that we learnt. For instance, in education, the only portion that is mandatory is primary school and it is free. Middle school, high school, college are all to be paid for. The only exceptions are for students with extra-ordinary talent who get to go to government-subsidized middle school and high school. To get to the next level of school from a lower level, say from primary to middle, the students must pass an exam. Failure leads to either dropping out or going to vocational school.

All agricultural land belongs to the government. Land is allocated to peasants on a case by case basis and is decided by the village elder. An interesting concept they have is 'use it or lose it'. If a peasant doesn't till the land, the peasant loses the rights to grow on the land. The land then goes to the next one on the waiting list.

The area around Hanoi is very rural. Rows and rows of wet-rice fields with farmers in conical hats laboring away on the rice field.

Wet-rice Fields on the way to Halong Bay

Around 1pm or so we stopped at a Humanities Center for lunch. This is an establishment that provides work for people with various kinds of disabilities. People without disabilities are also employed, but the purpose of the establishment is for those with disabilities. For lunch we had noodle soup. We having been having noodle soup quite a bit and I have become a fan. I don't know if we'll get the same quality back in Seattle, but we'll see.

We also stopped over at a farm and walked over into the field. An interesting technique that they use is to have raised beds to plant various kinds of vegetables. Also, the farmers, mostly women, were watering the plants by hand. They had a pair of water cans hanging by a pole that they carried on their shoulders. The would fill the cans in the nearby pond walk back with the filled-up cans and water the beds.

The woman farmer watering her vegetable beds

Our guide explained that the reason watering was done manually and not with a powerful hose was that the hose would destroy the raised beds. But it wasn't a big deal because the farmers only watered those beds that belonged to them (as decided by the government). These allocations were not that large. The watering could be completed in a couple of hours.


One of the guys from the group trying out the watering process--he is having a hard time!

We then continued on to Halong Bay. We turned into the touristy part. It was spectacular. The roads were surrounded by a boulevard. The whole place was pristine.

We are looking forward to the cruise in Halong Bay tomorrow.

View from our hotel in Halong Bay