Author: stroutsabroad

As I write this we are on a flight from Hanoi to Zurich with a layover in Moscow, ending our 4+ month chapter in Southeast Asia! We are a bit sad to be leaving, yet also excited to see family and friends in Switzerland and Germany in cooler, dryer temperatures.

We gave ourselves 10 days in the Hanoi area, breaking up our city stay with some quality time in the quiet Ba Be Lake National Park area 5 hours due north, not far from the Chinese border. Hanoi is a bustling city with an old quarter as well as business and industrial districts. The city itself is geared towards both tourists and locals, and reminded me of Bangkok, Thailand (though cleaner). There are more motorbikes and bicycles here than in Thailand, making for a challenging experience as a pedestrian. At some peak traffic times motorbikes would drive up on sidewalks and beep for pedestrians to move aside. It was all done politely but still unnerving yet also laughable.

We were in the Hanoi area from June 24 to July 3, the start of their rainy season and also their hottest time of year. We tried to escape the heat and city by exploring the rural Ba Be Lake National Park region, but there wasn’t much relief given it was only several hundred feet above sea level. Visitors most often go to Ha Long Bay and Sapa, but we opted not to as those areas are heavily touristed, and because we had experienced similar places in Indonesia. Ba Be Lake was a rural, quiet area where tourism is fairly minimal so far. The Lake is the largest one in Vietnam, but due to its elongated, branching shape it didn’t feel so big. The small, peaceful community we were in was perched on the water’s edge, consisting of perhaps 10 homestay businesses, many corn, rice and kasava farms, and several very small stores with a few basic supplies.

Our first full day there we hired our host to take us on a 20 km hike through farmland, jungle and villages. Man was it hot! The temperature was 98 and humid making for a pretty grueling walk, but beautiful and interesting nonetheless. Dury, a guest from Switzerland who was traveling alone, joined us for this hike as well as a boat ride the next day. Our day boat ride was a pleasant meander through narrow lake passages past farmlands and karst hills, and stopped first at a large cave, then a simple restaurant, a waterfall, and a good swimming spot before finally returning home.

We returned to Hanoi city to enjoy the food, colors, fabrics (such lovely silk), delicious coffee, and inexpensive massage. (It was a first to have someone walking on my body!) There are eateries and coffee shops on all of the streets, but other industries cluster: one block was all phone case shops, another all sunglass vendors, then engine repairs, sewing supplies, shoes, etc. It makes for easier shopping and bargaining power! Though at the night market I didn’t even have to bargain for my Ray Ban polarized sunglasses—a whopping 100,000 Dong/$4 USD. (Vietnam is the land of knock offs.)

We had a fun last night in Vietnam, transitioning from eastern to western food at the fabulous pizza restaurant Paradis 4. Who knew four cheese pizza with honey drizzled on it was so heavenly?  In the morning we got a Grab ride (Southeast Asia’s version of Uber) to the airport and headed for Switzerland!!

Good bye, Southeast Asia. We already miss your rich cultures, warm people, and simple living.

Letter home from Doug:

July 4, 2018

“Dear Mom and Dad,

I have been sitting in my Hanoi hotel bedroom most of the day now dealing with some business stuff and writing an account of our time in KL and Cambodia.  Outside it’s hot.  Like 100 degrees and not overly dry hot.  Anna and the girls are out there somewhere.  This morning at breakfast they were talking about nail and hair salons and such but I wasn’t paying particular attention.  Their plans may have also involved visiting a Taoist temple.

Okay.  So the above was from our last full day in SE Asia, rather historic after arriving in Bali way back in February.  It is now Tuesday morning (7/3) and we’re shoehorned into 4 middle seats on a 10 hour Aeroflot ride to Moscow, our single longest flight since we wrapped up our trip from Africa almost 18 months ago.  Our travel day will end tonight in Zurich, then a quick train ride to Chris Zimmerman and family in the morning.  Last night as I stepped out of our hotel onto a crowded city street I thought it appropriate somehow that our hottest, most uncomfortable Asian weather experience hit just before leaving for the cool Alps of Switzerland.  Think we’re in for a bit of culture shock?

These last 9 days in Vietnam have been pleasant enough, though not particularly epic.  Hanoi is a colorful, exciting big city, noticeably more congested, chaotic and in parts tourist-choked than Ho Chi Minh down south.  We arrived here without any particular plans, just a 2 night hotel reservation and several recommendations we’d picked up from travelers over the last several months.  One was to visit Ha Long Bay just a few hours away, a world heritage area and spectacular with pokey karst islands and colorful sailing boats.  Also recommended was Sapa, a cool mountainous area famous for terraced rice paddies and hill people and accessible from Hanoi by train.  Thirdly, for travelers in the know, another equally mountainous though more remote and less touristed area called Ha Giang promised hilly trekking options among colorful locals.  Hmmm….decisions, decisions.

As we settled down to our research the first day a couple of significant influencers became clear.  First, it’s bloody hot here in Vietnam during the summer.  Also, it’s a time when many locals are on holiday and certain areas are packed with domestic tourists.  Ha Long Bay was supposed to be blazing and full of holidaymakers.  It didn’t seem like a place where we could settle in somewhere quiet and connect with locals.  Instead all our investigating pointed to tourist boat rides of varying durations and stays on a floating (tourist) village or island.  We’ve recently experienced beautiful, remote karst-type islands in both Thailand and Indonesia so decided the nearby Vietnamese equivalent might disappoint.  Crazy, huh?  This is an area that most tourists describe as the highlight of their time in Vietnam and we were turning up our noses.  This might be a sign that we’ve spent enough time for now in SE Asia.  More fairly, we’ve been used to (and spoiled by) a slower pace of travel.  If we had 2 months to spend here I’d love to explore the long and no doubt amazing coastline of Vietnam.  But with just a few days the thought of riding on a tourist bus to a crowded tourist port and onto a tourist boat to take pictures of pretty islands just didn’t excite.

Similarly, the mountain village of Sapa is described as little more than tourist accommodations.  The only traditional economy in the area is farming and it was extremely poor until tourism began some years ago.  Now when the train arrives the local hill tribe folks descend with their wares and simply saying “no thank you” won’t thin the scrum.  There would be no town without tourists so everything is geared toward accommodations and paid tourist “experiences”.  Again, if we had time I expect we could wander deeper into the mountains and find less jaded, more authentic locals simply living their non-tourist-centered lives.  Of course also we’ve just had a world-class trekking experience in the paddy-terraced mountains of Tana Toraja.

Our research on the area around Ha Giang perked us up a bit except for the part where we take an 8 hour bus ride just to reach the beginning of a 350 km spectacular mountain road circuit.  At this point in our travels we are clear on how we like to travel and packing up every day or so to drive long windy roads to the next homestay again didn’t excite.  Once again, it would appeal more if we could hunker down in an area like that for a couple of weeks.  Also maybe if we were on a hypothetical 9 day vacation to Vietnam straight from Maine.  Then we’d probably have done both Ha Long Bay and Sapa, the obvious 2 tourist options.

Anyway, not sure if this is a particularly interesting train of thought but consider the above a small glimpse into the inner musings of our group travel mind.  In the end we opted for more time in Hanoi and a 3 night visit to a homestay in Ba Be Lake National Park, a 5 hour bus ride north from the city.  We stumbled on a description of this area as mountainous (so presumably a bit cooler that Hanoi) with very little tourism and the possibility of various lake-centered activities.  We chose a lakeside homestay based on reviews describing friendly (non-English speaking) hosts who cooked well and organized excursions for their guests.  We caught an early bus that dropped us off at a landing where a long-tail boat drove us up the lake to a spot about 1 km from our place.  We humped our (13 kg) backpacks and daypacks up a hot, dusty road and collapsed onto a beautiful veranda overlooking water, cornfields and the steep side of a jungle-clad mountain.

And a very pleasant time there we had.  Later that day a Swiss 25 year old guy named Dury showed up on his motorcycle and spent the next 3 days with us.  Exploring Vietnam (and presumably other countries) on a motorbike, by the way, would be an amazing option for those adventuresome types who can ride and want to get seriously off the beaten tourist track.  I spoke with several travelers getting around this way and all raved about their experiences.  Rural roads in this part of the world are often rough and car travel can be jarring and slow, whereas bikes can avoid potholes and access primitive tracks that often pass for roads in remote areas.

The first morning our host Quynh (Chwinn) took the 5 of us on a mountain hike through jungle and small villages.  It was a challenge needing to communicate by pantomime and hand gesture and occasional google-translate app.  We headed out a bit light on details of the intended itinerary, unaware we’d embarked on an all day, rugged 20 km circuit in the tropical heat.  Anna and Helen wore decent shoes and my tevas were serviceable enough but Ella set off barefoot, having recently shipped her Sumatran jungle shoes home from KL.  Amazingly, it all turned out fine and we had a wonderful day.  The first half was jungle and a steep climb, though shady and soft under foot.  Later, after lunch in a small village overlooking rice and corn fields we walked on mostly dirt and semi-paved roads though farmland and quiet mountain hamlets.  Ella, as you know, is pretty tough and loves the barefoot experience.  She never complained and only put on some light flip flops we’d packed toward the end of our hike when confronted with a stretch of blisteringly hot pavement.  Needless to say we were all pooped and ready to be done well before making it back to our village but nevertheless returned feeling triumphant and deserving of the cold drinks waiting for us at our homestay.

The following day we essentially drove around the lake on Quynh’s long-tail boat for about 6 hours.  This was a rather relaxed affair, as you can imagine, and fine after the beating we’d taken the day before.  We visited the area’s 3 big features, a large river cave that the boat could actually navigate through, a fine set of waterfalls and a small island with cliffs suitable for diving.  It was hot (about 100 F) that day and we were all a bit droopy, content to slouch in the shade and breeze of the moving boat.  The lake was rather beautiful, surrounded by mountains and full of interesting bends and hidden coves.  Sadly, on large stretches of water currents from villages accumulated the now all-too-familiar assortment of plastic trash we’ve become so accustomed to as we travel through this part of the world.  The area is a national park and it amazed us that efforts seemingly weren’t made to use some of the collected fees on trash collection.  We are curious if over time locals begin embracing environmentalism and sustainability or will the degradation of their natural resources continue unchecked?

And so we spent 3 nights listening to a chorus of frogs on a mountain lake bookended by 2 sets of 3 night stays in different air-conditioned hotels in the heart of an Asian megacity.  We all liked Hanoi very much.  It was a pretty crazy place.  Like, particularly at busy traffic times motorbikes drive onto sidewalks, honking at pedestrians to move aside.  Of course there are also lots of pedestrians so it’s all one big choking clog of humanity.  Despite traffic signs and lights there are apparently no enforced road rules.  Cars and motorbikes ease though red lights if able and there’s no such thing as lanes of traffic.  If there’s enough room for a car or bike (or becuk, bus or bemo) the space will be filled.  As a pedestrian, crossing city streets takes a leap of faith.  This involved just stepping out into traffic and walking slowly forward, pausing strategically and never making sudden moves.  Vehicles weren’t moving particularly fast and would anticipate our movements and part around us.  It almost seemed best just to look straight ahead and ignore the oncoming traffic.  The key was slow and steady movement.  I expect a more instinctual stop/start dash would quickly end badly as cars and motorbikes are conditioned to drive to the space a pedestrian is leaving.  I found the whole experience fascinating, scary and exhilarating, the movement of the city a grand dance that worked because somehow everyone was listening to the same music.  We never saw or heard about incidents of road rage and the incessant honking appeared more informative than hostile.

We ate at great restaurants, saw an unexpectedly beautiful evening water-puppet show, visited botanical gardens and night markets and generally absorbed the color and energy of this sprawling testament to humanity.  We also bought several possibly pirated consumer goods such as “genuine” Ray Ban sunglasses, North Face hiking shoes, a high-tech Jack Wolfskin rain jacket and more, all suspiciously cheap and available from dozens of small kiosks and street venders.

In fact, I’ve never seen so many places of business packed so tightly together.  All city stores were small and entrepreneurial, literally dozens on a single block and usually with blocks of like-businesses grouped together.  The mind boggles at the thought of a huge city crammed with so many small businesses.  I spent many hours just walking and observing.  One cluster of blocks centered mostly on repairing old appliances.  Men and women sat on the sidewalk in the heat in front of fans, working on disassembled toasters, stereo systems and dishwashers spread out around them.  Similarly tiny sidewalk mechanic shops worked on cars and motorbikes in another area.  One whole street appeared to do nothing but stitch motorbike seat covers and side saddles and a few other upholstery-type services.  Then there was a block of plumbing supplies and another of different gauged electrical wire, all tiny, single room shops open to the street and the heat and clogged with wares.  Anyway, you get the idea.  I found it all quite interesting and haven’t before experienced a city set up in such an organic, low-tech but clearly productive way.

Alright then.  As I’ve been rambling away the flight drones on.  This is one of those big planes with a middle row of 4 seats and 2 seat rows on either side.  I think it’s full and we’re in the last row of the middle section, right in front of a set of bathrooms so our seats won’t recline.  Anna and the girls have been good naturedly entertaining a pair of 2 year old Vietnamese boys in the next row, occasionally setting limits as they stand on their seats dropping items in our laps.  Only 6 hours to go and all is well.

Love you all so much and when I write next it may touch less on heat and humanity and more on glacial streams and mountain meadows.  And the Zimm’s and Abby.  How fun is that?  Until then,

Doug”