globalmidtown

one of the best things about living in the empty quarter desert is its location. it really is like midtown of the globe. i can get just about anywhere relatively quickly and inexpensively – with the exception of the americas, of course. a goal of mine, while i’m in this hemisphere, is to travel and experience as much of this side of the planet as possible. i have an intense ‘travel bug’. i haven’t always had this bug. i mean, i’ve always wanted to travel, of course, but in just the past few years has the bug gotten serious. i think it began when i started visiting haiti and fell in love with a different culture and way of life. since then, i have jumped at the chance to go anywhere new. to see a new place, to take in the sights and smells and sounds of a new culture. to meet the people and hear their stories and learn about their insights and perspectives on the world. to see the art and architecture of a place and to eat.  i frequently eat my way through a new place … tempting my senses with the smells and textures and tastes of new foods. thankfully, i have somewhat of an iron stomach that tolerates my ‘adventurous’ eating.

we had three weeks off over christmas/new year’s holidays and i have been busy mending a broken heart, so some friends and i decided to take a big trip. we chose to go the spiritual route and visit vietnam and cambodia.

our trip beings when nancy & i hop on our upgraded emirates flight to hanoi, vietnam. we arrive late at night and are swooped into some gypsy taxi &  that takes us to our hotel in the “old quarter”. this is a lovely area of the city  – one of it’s original four districts – that has narrow, winding streets closely lined with tall, old, wooden buildings that look as if they may fall down onto the street at any minute. old quarter is charming and welcoming with a huge french influence in the architecture. there are markets everywhere and street vendors on every corner. we sleep  for a few hours before a breakfast of pho ga (noodle soup with chicken) and strong, thick, delicious sludge-like coffee. at 7:30 am we are picked up by benh, our tour guide for the next week.

benh takes us on a trip north of hanoi where we see amazing grottos and pagodas and mountains and waterfalls. we stay in a tae village in the extreme north eastern corner of vietnam, on the china border. the village is very small and all of the residents are “minority people”, meaning they are people of particular vietnamese ethnic groups living traditionally, as their ancestors have for centuries.

the village is situated high up in the mountains on ba be lake (three lakes lake). the people depend on the lakes for much of their livelihood, as they are fishermen and farmers.here we stay with a local family in a “home-stay”.this home-stay is not like any other i have experienced. it is more like staying in someone’s spare room and using their spare bathroom. except, i guess, normally these homes would  not have spare bedrooms or bathrooms. homes of the village are built up high on stilts (the lakes do flood, apparently) and they are very simple with bamboo floors, thatched roofs, and windows that are tied open and shut using a string.

our meals are prepared over an open fire in the kitchen and we eat on a mat that is spread on the floor of the main room just for meal time. the food is fresh and delicious… spring rolls, fish, morning lories, shrimp, bamboo, greens, pork, and, of course, rice and soup (broth).  meals in this quaint village are served with corn wine (in lieu of rice wine  – corn wine can be made faster and cheaper). corn wine is strong … it tastes like grain alcohol. however, one can not be rude, so i drink. nancy and i both become quite agile with our chop sticks, although benh tells us we are not proficient until we can catch a mosquito in mid-air. hump!

we visit  several waterfalls, including the ban gioc waterfalls that separate northern vietnam from china. we also see about 100 grottos (caves). the caves are lovely  – dark and cool, winding  deep into  the earth with stalactites and stalagmites everywhere. most caves have about 300 steps up the side of a mountain to the entrance, then another 300 deep under the surface of the earth, then of course one must come back up!  nancy & i decide benh either must be trying to kill us from exhaustion or he’s on a secret geology  mission of some sort.

benh takes us to several large street markets, where we try quite the variety of foods. my favorite was this donut-style rice ball of fried deliciousness! the street markets of vietnam are impressive. they are huge structures that take up entire city blocks. the markets themselves look as if they began with a plan, but over time the plan was abandoned  in order to cram small vending stalls in every nook and cranny. the markets spill over on to the surrounding streets and the alleyways. every square inch of sidewalk, road, and wall are covered in goods to be sold. the vendors fill their stalls to the absolute brim – from floor to ceiling and in every possible pathway, making walking an obstacle course. weaving through the market stalls fills the senses. the sights – from vegetables, to raw meats of every variety, handbags, tourist mementoes, kitchen and housewares, auto parts and home-goods, noodles made on the spot, amazing arrays of fresh spices, clothes, jewelry….. with all of the colors and textures and intricate art works, the visual display is impressive. the smells are equally overwhelming – foods, spices, leather, flowers, vegetables, synthetic goods, human sweat, perfumes, raw meat, salt, plastics, auto supplies – all mingling to fill the air with an aroma that can’t be matched.  the constant hum of feet on pavement, motorcycles and bikes, vendors calling out, flies & mosquitoes, people haggling over prices, leaves one drained before you have even begun to bargain for your own goods. luckily, very few of the vendors are “hard sells”, so one can enjoy the simple experience of prodding about and finding just the right treasure.

along the way, nancy and i are busy learning the customs and “do’s & don’t’s” of vietnam. for instance – one NEVER goes to a public restroom in vietnam without first rolling up their pants and  one ALWAYS takes tissue and some sort of hand cleaner. one ALWAYS eats the food that is offered, for it will be forced upon you anyway. and one ALWAYS bargains for purchases with a smile. 

our week with benh ends and we return to hanoi where nancy and i spend an entire day wandering the streets … we visit street markets, get a massage, eat an amazing lunch, check out great tourist spots … a lovely day in the capital city.

that night, marie arrives in hanoi and the three of us head to the water puppet show. this is an ancient vietnamese tradition which involves intricate hand made wooden puppets. the puppeteers are behind the curtain standing in 3-feet deep water to maneuver  the puppets for the show, which is a musical telling of ancient vietnamese folktales.

the next day we head to holong bay, north and east of hanoi. halong bay is famous for its rock islands filled with grottos. we take a boat cruise around the bay for the day. onboard we are served a lunch of fresh seafood and wine. we take a stop at one of the rock islands to see several grottos. yes, more caves. we see the floating fishing villages of halong bay and countless beautiful vistas.

the next day we go to the city of ninh binh to the visit bai dinh pagoda,  the oldest pagoda in southeast asia. it is quite interesting – it’s actually two pagodas – the old and the new. the old is over 1000 years old,  in a cave and very simply beautiful.  the new is a man made structure and it is incredibly impressive and very informative, but it lacks  the spiritual feeling of the old pagoda in the cave.

we eat an amazing lunch on the side of the road … morning lories, goat, rice, cabbage, and broth. of course, all meals in vietnam are accompanied by rice wine. which i quickly decide i love.

next we take a boat trip to visit the trang an grottoes. this is a gathering of over 30 valleys and more than 50 cross-water caves. it is a cold, rainy day … but beautiful none the less.

on one of our drives through the country side we stop by a cemetery. the cemeteries in vietnam are a sight to behold! the graves go in all directions and there appears to be no real plan to how the plots are laid out. we discover that within the cemetery you will see two different types of graves: the first grave and the final grave. vietnamese tradition says that when someone dies you first bury them in a simple box in a very shallow grave where they rest for three years. each month on the anniversary of their death, family members go to the site to make offerings in the name of their loved one. on the third anniversary of the death, the remains are dug up, the bones cleaned, and transferred into the bone casket. now the final grave is dug and the deceased goes to their final resting spot. here the fortune teller advises the family as to which direction to face the grave and what type of tomb to give the deceased. an interesting tradition that makes for very beautiful and unique cemeteries.

we return to hanoi in time to catch a plane that takes us south to hoi ann, in central vietnam. here we spend a lazy night and a lovely day wandering the streets of this ancient city. the city reminds me of savannah, in that it is both an old city built around a river, and that it is very tourist oriented. while it is  quite old and very lovely, not much of it feels authentic. however, it does have amazing fabrics! hoi ann is known for fabrics and tailoring. if you need clothing made  quickly of good quality, this is the place to go!  i had two pair of pants custom sewn on the street for under $10 USD each in less than four hours. the streets of hoi an are narrow and winding, almost alley-like. the buildings are old and well-preserved. the french architecture is not as propionate in this little town … it almost looks like some english village with the thatched roofs, shuttered windows, and creeping ivy covered walls.

after wandering the streets all day, a late afternoon rain shower rolls in. we decide we will spend the rest of the afternoon at a little cafe on a sweet side street. here we drink amazing coffee, eat ice cream delights and smoke shisha. we quickly become friends with the ladies who work in the cafe.  i have spent the last five days searching for a flag of the five elements. this is something i saw when we were in the north and i feel in love with it. in buddhism the five elements are: metal, wood, earth, water, and fire and each element is essential for a balanced world. i plead my case to one of the ladies working in the cafe and she says “i’ll be right back”. before i can protest, she is off on her bike. in 30 minutes or so she returns with a flag of the five elements for me! i am told that these are not meant for tourists and it would have been very difficult for me to purchase on my own. wow. i am amazed and so happy to have this beautiful flag!

the next morning we catch a flight to south vietnam, ho chi minh city (locals still refer it as saigon). we immediately catch a ride even further south to spend a few days in the beach town of voung tao. voung tao is an interesting town that is clearly not developed for western tourists, but rather for vietnamese beach-goers. we find our way to our hotel very late, only to discover no one in our hotel speaks english and we are in a room meant for a very  loving couple. luckily, we are very expressive and persuasive women, and are able to get moved to a more suitable room.  after such a late night, we leisurely head out to the beach for the morning. in the late afternoon we find our way to an impressive italian restaurant where we spend a long afternoon over wine, caprese, filled with  lots of talking and laughing. later we walk along the sea-walk to find a hotel with a spa, where we all get massages and enjoy the sauna and steam room. massages in vietnam are interesting …. privacy as we know it as westerns is not a priority. the therapist, who stays in the room with you while you undress and waits for you to get on the table to cover you up, may make comments about your body. sometimes these comments are accompanied by pointing or grabbing to be sure the point is made.

after our massages, we make the long walk along the coast back to our hotel. it is christmas eve and the streets are packed with local party-goers. christmas is being celebrated in this little beach town as children are dressed in Santa suits and families are in all of the cafes and bars drinking and chatting, “snow” is blown onto the street from one of the pubs, and locals take their photographs with a variety of Santas. a lovely experience.

christmas morning we wake, drink a bottle of wine then catch the ferry back to saigon. our hotel in ho chi minh is right in the city center. we can walk everywhere – and we do! ho chih minh is hot and humid … my clothes and hair feel sticky, but my skin is so happy, soaking up the much needed moisture. we spend the day wandering the streets and getting a feel for the city. ho chi minh is very differnt from hanoi. althoug the streets of ho chi minh are small and easy to navigate, the city feels huge. the traffic is not as dense as hanoi and i am no where near as concerned for my safety crossing the streets (or have i become asscusdomed to these crazy, crowed streets?); however, the streets feel as if i could walk for days and days and never not run out of city to walk. we wander late into the night and end up in a very interesting “vip” style club. i believe we are the only women there who are not on the clock. there is a dance stage with very provocative dancers under a disco ball and  hazy smoke which is sprayed every few minutes to keep up the mysterious atmosphere. the servers light cigarettes for the patrons, bring lined glasses for cell phones (because a cell phone can not sit directly on the table, of course), hurry over with hand wipes if you look as if you may munch on a nut, refill the ice in your glass using tongs and an ice bucket, and if you insist on drinking your beer from the bottle, they actually wrap the napkin around the bottle for you. we stayed late into the night, finally making our way back to our hotel in the wee hours of the morning. all of this is on foot in the heart of the city. not once did i feel unsafe or threatened.

ho chi minh has a lovely square at the city center, as well as “little notre dame” and an amazing old postoffice. it is also home to a massive western shopping district, complete with stores such as dolche & gabbana, louis vuitton,  and  tiffany’s.

one day while meandering the city streets, we happen upon a small, local arts festival. tall types of art is on display ~ floral art, paintings, sculptures, wood carvings, jewelry, photography … one beautiful piece after another. near the center of the park there is a monk set up with all of his paintings on display. he offers gifts to patrons for free. he paints your name with a personalized little picture for each name. naturally, we all must have our names painted. they each turn out uniquely beautiful.

what a lovely way to end our time in vietnam!

i will tell you about cambodia another day ….