HAPPY BUDDHAS: Vietnam Travelogue (Part 3 – Communism)

25 November 2017 (Saturday)

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Side Note:  In Hoi An Hai recommended the massage services at the hotel’s spa.  However, he specifically did not recommend the massage services at the hotel in Hue.  According to him they focus little on massage and keep asking whether you want a “happy ending.”

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I’m up before wake-up call for a quick stretch.  My right leg is stiff – perhaps from yesterday’s walking tour.  I realize I left my handkerchief drying in my room at the Hoi An Trials Resort.  Oh well.  Better than forgetting my phone.

I breakfast with Armond, a tech wiz from the Bay Area.  He’s traveling with his parents and brother, Alex.  Lana interrupts to enlist Armond’s help.  She’s a real estate agent, and her email was hacked by a particularly aggressive hacker.  She can’t figure out how to change her password.  Armond kindly offers his assistance.

Before leaving for the Perfume River tour I discover my hotel safe won’t open.  The safe contains my passport (which I don’t need for the tour) and my camera (which I do).  I call the front desk, and they send housekeeping.  While waiting for my safe to be opened I call the front desk to let Hai know I’m running late.  Housekeeping opens the safe, but now it’s locked open.  I lock what valuables I don’t need in my suitcase and head downstairs.  I’ll have to sort this out after the tour.

Overcast skies but no rain for the one hour cruise on a Dragon Boat (tourist version) down the Perfume River to Thien Mu Pagoda.  The pagoda has lots of stairs and beautiful grounds.  We take a bus to the Khai Dinh tomb.  This particular king didn’t like his concubines and preferred his bodyguards.  His queen became pregnant (by the king’s uncle, or so it was believed) and gave birth to the next king – technically not related to the king by blood.  But what could the monarch say nothing without causing more problems?  There are even more stairs here.  Grimmer in mood, and the rain starts again.  Next stop is the Tu Duc tomb via an Incense and Cone Hat making shop.  The Tu Duc tomb has more extensive grounds but the tomb itself is being renovated.

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Side Note:  While waiting on the tour bus to leave Khai Dinh tomb I see the Kiwis from the XO Tour heading up to the site.  When we spoke during the food tour they had mentioned they would be in Hue a day after me.  I knock on the window, and they wave back in recognition.

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Lunch is a vegan affair, prepared and served by nuns at the Dong Thuyen Pagoda.  Ana Maria and I share a plate (it’s two to a plate all around).  After lunch Hai interviews (and translates for) a 19-year-old nun.  She answers questions about her life in the nunnery.  She wanted to become a nun from a very early age.  She is very endearing.

Back at the hotel I call reception to have my safe fixed, with just enough time to scout a dinner location before dark.  Both Hai and Lonely Planet recommend the Mandarin Café, so I trek there.  Glad I scouted in daylight as the map is not very clear.  Back to the hotel to read and rest my knee, which is sore after all the stair climbing.

Next the dinner trek for real.  After dark there are significantly more taxi drivers accosting you.  One cyclo driver approaches me.  When I refuse he makes the universal sign for smoking.  I’m not sure if he wants a cigarette or is offering marijuana.  Either way my answer is no.

Mandarin Café is both a restaurant and a travel agency run by Mr. Cu, who displays his exceptional photos on the walls.  I order the local beer on his recommendation (Hai said it tastes like water; we’ll see), fried vegetable spring rolls as an appetizer, and sautéed mixed seafood for the main course.  Dessert is a mango pancake with ice cream and chocolate sauce, along with coffee and condensed milk.  Decadent!

Before leaving the restaurant Mr. Cu gives me one of his pictures as a souvenir.  Some fellow tour companions are eating at the restaurant when I arrive and leave shortly thereafter to check out the Night Market (if it isn’t closed due to rain).  They suggest I meet them, but my knee is still bothering me and I don’t want to overdo it.  So back to the hotel to shower and pack for tomorrow’s flight to Hanoi.

26 November 2017 (Sunday)

A brief stretch before breakfast, then on to the Hue airport.  Hai warns us that the customs officials there can be stern, but the woman who checks our passports is fairly typical.  Not friendly, not unfriendly.  The flight is short, but the bus ride to Halong Bay feels long.  The scenery begins to reflect the politics in Hanoi – flat, gray buildings become the norm.

We stop halfway to Halong Bay for a modest lunch at a restaurant whose proceeds assist victims of Agent Orange.  The food is unremarkable but hits the spot.  During the final leg to Halong Bay Hai fills us in our upcoming hotel’s scam to make you pay for drinks from the fridge in your room.  I take inventory when I arrive (even take a picture of the fridge contents just in case).  After unpacking I walk toward the bay with Ana Maria so she can smoke.

At the group dinner that evening I sit (once again) with my fellow vegan/vegetarians, Rike and Pam.  Joining us are Ali, his wife Fariba, son Ali and other son Alex.  They migrated to the U.S. from Iran.  The sons and I talk science fiction books, then Rike changes the subject (as is her wont) to politics, which I have no interest in.  Hai sits next to us but eats very little.  I wonder if he has some dietary restrictions, because I can’t recall him eating much of anything thus far.

After dinner Ana Vigo (as opposed to Ana Maria) suggests drinks at the Skybar.  When I return to my room many of my group are gathered outside the elevator.  They are still there when I head to the less busy elevator down the hall.  The Skybar is on the 16^th floor.  It has trendy pretensions and tries too hard.  The only group member there is Fariba.  The outdoor seating looks enticing, so I head back to my room for a jacket, figuring the rest of the group will have arrived by the time I return.  Not so.  They must have gone to the night market.  I have no interest in that, or in waiting.  I make an early night of it.

27 November 2017 (Monday)

Because several tour groups are in the hotel Hai suggests we arrive at breakfast this morning before 7:00 a.m.  I arrive at 6:30 a.m., and it’s already a zoo.  Clearly everyone has the same idea.  A half hour later the crowds subside.  Oh well.  The food is good, though coffee and milk are in short supply.

Rike, the politics talker, is a lawyer from the D.C. area (originally from Nigeria).  She sits across from me and, bless her heart, talks my ear off.  Both she and Pam (who rounds out the non-meat-eating trio) seem to abhor silence.  Maybe it’s too many vegetables in their diet.

During check out Hai’s warning about housekeeping is confirmed.  Anne and Tom are called to task for removing a glass from their room.  All’s well that ends well, however, as it is tracked to the dining room (?!).  This meticulousness seems egregious.  However, Hai says it’s not uncommon for Korean or Chinese businessmen to get drunk and try to enter the wrong room.  Perhaps they (the businessmen) tear up their rooms, which has led to housekeeping’s overcompensating behavior.

At 8:00 a.m. we bus to the marina for our cruise of Halong Bay, which has hundreds of islands, many with caves.  We cruise for two hours before stopping to explore three caves in one of the islands.  The bay is gorgeous, the sailing serene, and the caves breathtaking.  Even the crowds at the caves aren’t too obnoxious.

After the cave crawl it’s back to the boat for a 9-course lunch.  No joke.  By the end of the meal I am full to near exploding.  Hai says this particular lunch used to be 11 courses.  That must have been coma inducing.

We take our 4-hour bus ride back to Hanoi where we will spend the remainder of the tour.  We arrive earlier than expected, so Hai conducts an informal walking orientation of the city.  He leads us from the hotel to Hoan Kiem Lake, then walks us to the Café Pho Co for a hot egg coffee, a Hanoi specialty.  I also have an uninspired piece of chocolate cake.  Dessert before dinner tonight.  Some teenage girls bus the tables.  I give one a $1 tip, and she is completely overwhelmed.  As I leave I see her speaking excitedly to a co-worker.  Never has a dollar gone so far.

Hai warned us about hygiene in the city, and the walk confirms this.  The sidewalks and curbs are covered with detritus.  According to Hai it’s not uncommon at street food stations for patrons to toss their used napkins on the floor around their table.

Tom & Anne, Mike & Lana, and Ana Maria and I walk back to the hotel (a significant hike).  I lead the way, since no one else feels confident of the route.  We make it back without incident – only minor stress crossing the street.  On the walk down Hai showed us his “kung fu” technique.  You wait for a break in the traffic, step into the road and hold up your hand.  It works for him but is not as easy for a non-native to pull off.

We go straight to Cha Ca Thang Lang for dinner.  It’s next door to the hotel, and they only serve fish.  You get a full meal for a mere 170,000 VND (the equivalent of $8) plus whatever you want to drink.  I also have the Bai Ha Nai (the local beer).  The fish is amazing.  I have yet to have a bad meal here.  The check comes all together, and there is some drama as we pay separately, some in dong (VND), some in dollars.  No credit cards at this restaurant.

We walk the few steps to the hotel and bid each other good night.  Tomorrow’s official city tour begins at 9:00 a.m., so we get an extra hour of sleep.  Huzzah!