After the history lessons of Hué, we drove through Da Nang to get to Hoi An for some culture lessons. Our hotel, the Little Hoi An Boutique Hotel, was very well located on the edge of the old town. The appeal of Hoi An is in the streets of old town, although I found it rather more touristy/commericial than charming. However, when the sun sets and the lights come on reflecting across the river, the area becomes quite romantic. This first set is from a walk around town on our first of three nights in Hoi An. I walked through a couple different market areas, into a couple temples, and down a couple allies. Note the pic of a telephone/power pole, it is similar to others I took in India and Nepal, and similar to the painting on the same topic further below. Enjoy…

After a refreshing night in our wonderful hotel, we had a less refreshing experience trying to go for a bike ride. The bikes were janckity, no helmuts provided, and the streets were a seeming demolition derby of beeping motorbikes, honking cars, and not much margin for error. Note of pic of one of those motorbikes hauling away two of our bikes. Once in a taxi, we made it safely to a fishing village where we took a ride in a basket boat. The kids got quite a kick out of crab fishing and caught several. Catch some of these…

Then we went to two businesses that did not seem on the tourist track. The first was a fish sauce operation, and the second was a rice cake maker. While interesting, I once again became grateful for the FDA, Health Depts., and various regulations about food production. The fish sauce place was disgusting with huge open vats of squished fish that sit for a year then are filtered into bottles. The rice cakes or rice & sesame tortillas was less offensive, but they were drying out on the sidewalk right next to the road and the inevitable dust that comes up with every car and many a motorbike. Some pix…

Just a couple pix from our second night in Hoi An. The telephone/power pole painting, some bamboo bikes, an art shop, and the lights of the city…

On our last full day, a free day, we went to the beach. Free shuttle from the hotel and we hung out at a restaurant affiliated with our hotel. I took a couple strolls down the beach and found a pill box, a little Buddhist alter, and mini forest of sorts. Fun in the sun…

Here are some pix of our hotel, most of the semi-indoor pool we’ve enjoyed…

This last set was from our third and last night. It was a full moon and there was a full moon lantern festival (another related link) going on. Many of the lights that had been along the river the previous night were turned off, and there were many more candles floating in little cardboard boxes on the river. Different, but also beautiful and somewhat more captivating.

 

Study Questions:

1. Research Hoi An. For what is it famous?
2. Research the Hoi An Full Moon Lantern Festival (links). What, why, how?
3. Choose to research crab fishing, fish sauce, or rice cakes. What are some details, and why did you choose what you did?

After a busy (and quite hot) day in Hué, we were up early and off to the city of Hoi An. First  however, we had to drive over a hundred kilometers and make several stops. Rather than take the new tunnel, we drove the mountain road that connects the province of Hue with that of Da Nang. At the crest of the hill is an ancient crossroads, with a couple hundred year old buildings, pill boxes and gun turrets from the “American War,” and now several tourist shops. Some pix…

In Da Nang, we went to the Cham Museum and learned about Champa sculpture. The Champa are group of people, followers of Hinduism, that had a nation in what is now central Vietnam. My Son is a center of their society that we are not visiting, but several artifacts from there were at the museum. French archaeologiests discovered some of their civilization sites in the late 19th century. First some maps and a model…

Here are some photographs from some of the original discoveries by Henri Parmentier…

Here some of my pix of the sculptures at the museum…

After leaving the museum, we continued driving until we came to an area called “Marble Mountain.” In fact, there are five marble mountains, and one of them has an amazing cave. Before going there, we went to just one of dozens of marble shops selling carvings and sculptures. There was an amazing number of pieces, and while there are a lot of pix in this set, it is just a sampling from just one marble emporium. Check it out…

Marble Mountain Cave or Grotto is not only an amazing cave complete with bats and lofty ceilings, but it has been carved throughout with dozens of pieces on the walls. There is one path that goes lower into the depths, and one that goes much higher and has a view of the surrounding town. There are legends about the grotto, an idea that it is the cave of hell (with scary tableaux depicting hell), and it was used by the Vietcong during the war. Here’re some samples…

Finally, we went to an artisan factory/workshop and sales place, specializing in silk. Here are some pix of that, lunch, and near our hotel in old town Hoi An…

 

Study Questions:

1. Research the Champa. Describe their culture, art, and current lack of a nation. What would it have been like to be Henri Parmentier?
2. Research Da Nang and Hoi An. What’s interesting or important about these cities?
3. Research the role of Da Nang in the Vietnam War. What happened there?
4. Research Marble Mountain and Marble Sculptures. What’s cool?

Here is more of our tour in Hue. Hue was the imperial capital during the Nguyen dynasty from 1802 to 1945 (when Uncle Ho Chi Minh took power). In part one I showed pix of our visits to the tombs of Minh Mang (the second emperor) and Khai Dinh (the twelfth emperor). Ming Mang was an impressive ruler, as we shall see in visiting the imperial palace or citadel. Khai Dinh had an impressive tomb, but was not a great ruler as he basically had capitulated to the French.

Left off Pt. 1 with the mosaics in Khai Dinh’s tomb, so here’s the big picture in panos (first the burial room, then the entrance and alter that lead to it)…

After visiting both tombs, we went for lunch (the duck rolls, eggplant, & beef in bamboo were just part of an abundance of deliciousness)…

At the citadel (or imperial palace) we came across several maps and models of Vietnam, the citadel itself, the tombs we had visited, etc…

The Citadel was originally vast, somewhat similar to the Forbidden City in Beijing. However, it was severely damaged during the war and has been only partially restored. And the rest of the Imperial Palace grounds which went far beyond the area of the citadel are now full of streets and buildings. This set of pix shows a couple to be married at the front gate building, hallways & gates, parts of buildings, koi in the lake, workers, and a painting of an elephant killing a tiger…

More of the Citadel in Hue. An other worker, several buildings, and the large moat that surrounds the entire area…

In the museum at the Citadel there were many old photographs of the people who lived at the Imperial Palace. Mandarins with long fingernails, servants & musicians, wives & concubines, animal sacrifices, the king himself, etc…

After visiting the Citadel, we went to Thien Mu Pagoda. Apparently there is a legend that an old woman soothsayer predicted a king would move to the city, and he did. Thus the pagoda was built in her honor. Now there are several other buildings adjacent that serve as a Buddhist monastery. Just a taste…

Here are some of the bonsai which we found at both tombs, the citadel, and the pagoda…

There was an art studio at the Citadel with some paintings, a theater with some large masks, an imperial costume, and another detail of a mosaic…

Speaking of art, there’s something beautiful to me about old walls. The moldy plaster, cracked paint, palimpsest bricks – the patterns, forms, time passed – the aesthetics of nature having her way with the hand of mankind…

The day’s tour finally ended with a dragon boat ride back to our hotel…

 

Study Questions:

1. Research the city of Hué. Discuss its role in Vietnamese History.
2. Research the Citadel in Hue. Discuss its history.
3. Where do you find art?

After our second day hiking in Sapa, we freshened up in a hotel room then slept on the train back to Hanoi. There we freshened up again in another hotel room room before catching an afternoon flight to Hue. We checked into yet another hotel room and got even fresher. The next day we toured Hue with our guide Toan (all that freshness melted in the heat and humidity), and visited important sites related to the Nguyen dynasty that ruled Vietnam from 1802 to 1945.

This first set of pix is from our flight and first night in Hue, but first here’s a clip of the plane landing, and last, the pool on the 7th floor of the Asia Hotel…

 

After a nice breakfast, we met in the lobby and went on a tour that focused on the Nguyen Dynasty. First, we went to the tomb of Minh Mang, the second emperor, famous for being a good ruler and have 500 concubines…

This set shows more of the complex and the actual hill in which he is buried…

 

Next, we went to the tomb of Khai Dinh (father of the last emperor Bao Dai, who lost his rule to Uncle Ho Chi Minh). Neither was considered particularly effective and had capitulated to the French, but the complex was impressive…

 

Statues of mandarins, servants, horses, and elephants, are meant to serve the king in the afterlife (heaven or hell?)…

 

The mosaics in the mausoleum of Khai Dinh are spectacular and perhaps the main reason that the complex took 11 years to complete…

 

Study Questions:

1. Research the Nguyen Dynasty. Give some basic info: when, where, who, how? How did it start and how did it end?
2. Research Minh Mang. Discuss his rule, and his progeny.
3. Research Khai Dinh. Discuss his rule, and his progeny.

Once again I’ve decided to put some video clips on a separate post. These are from our train from Hanoi and both days of trekking in Sapa, visiting Hmong homes, and watching kids jump in the creek, etc. All quite short…

Train stations in Sapa & Hanoi. We’ve now taken two night trains to and from Sapa, but we’ve had hotel rooms to “freshen up” in. At this writing, we are showering and resting at La Suite in Hanoi before flying to Hue.

After our hike on Thursday, we came back to our hotel, but I couldn’t help but take another walk around Sapa town. (Most of the rest of the pix are of Friday’s hike.) Here ya go…

After a nice dinner, sleep, breakfast, we were off on another trek in another part of the region. Our hike included stops in a couple Hmong homes. We saw the manufacture of textiles from the spinning to the weaving to the dying, etc. I also take other people’s group shots: above a group of older Vietnamese folks, below a family with five boys. And here are a couple walls of old wood, which I love. Enjoy…

More…

Here are some of the local textiles and a bucket of indigo (which we’ve seen growing here in the valley)…

Another set of pix: our guides house, a family photo, chicks, duck, buffalo, kids in a swimming hole, etc…

 

Study Questions:

1. Where are the videos? OK, they’re coming.
2. Research textiles & dye. Bring it.
3. Photo analysis. What do you see?

After an amazing day in Ninh Binh, we went back to Hanoi and freshened up in a hotel, then took an overnight train to the far north, just shy of the Chinese border, to the town of Sapa. The region is famous for both the spectacular views, and the cultures of the ethnic minorities (Check this link) in Vietnam. In this set of pix are a couple from the train (including our guide Trong), big picture views of the valley just below the town of Sapa, a Hmong woman watching a more modern one with her son looking like a soldier, some ducks, and a lot of bamboo…

A pano of the valley below Sapa and a pic of our trekking group…

More of our hike through many terraced hillsides. A group of Hmong women who accompanied us, some kids, etc…

Kids playing in a swimming hole, pigs, bridges, water powered mill, sport court at the hydroelectric plant, restaurants above a fish farm, more landscape…

A school and some classrooms, carving: stone & bamboo, wifi cafe, sleepy meatmonger, hammocks, and some corn…

Buffalo, billiards, cinnamon sticks, ducks, various kids, a new girlfriend, inside the home of some successful cardamom farmers, roof art, papaya, etc…

H’mong woman, cultural carving…

 

Study Questions:

1. Research Sapa. Where is it, why it is a tourist destination?
2. Research the Hmong. Describe their culture.
3. Research the China-Vietnam border. Discuss the war, tensions, issues, etc.
4. What might you have learned from these pix?

After two nights in Hanoi and two nights in Ha Long Bay, we were up early again for a trip to Ninh Binh. Ninh Binh is a lot of things: another amazing geographical area (considered the land version of Halong), a land of beautiful mountains above enchanting caves below, and site of the ancient first capital of Vietnam for 42 years when the first Vietnamese ruling dynasty won independence from China in the 10th century. Here’s the first cluster of pix…

After our drive from Hanoi we arrived at the Trang An cave complex and boarded a little boat which was rowed by a nice lady who pointed a few things out, but mostly paddled the whole two hours…

Trang An is an ecotourist tourist destination because it is pristine. It is also a UNESCO World Heritage site. The beauty is amazing, but the network of caves is truly amazing. A couple have been expanded, but more are natural…

This area is also a popular place for weddings and we saw at least four couples in their marriage regalia. Here is another set of photos…

After our boat tour, we had lunch then went to two Buddhist temples honoring the two first dynasties of Vietnam. This area, in the middle of Ninh Binh because the mountains provided protection, is call Hoa Lu and is the ancient capital of Vietnam. The wife of the first ruler of the first dynasty interestingly became the wife of the second ruler of the second dynasty. There is a lurid tale of fratricide and weirdness here worthy of further investigation. Also, they were setting up for a festival here and I was interviewed by local TV. In case you are interested, here’s a link to the history of Vietnam. Are here are some pix of the area and the temples…

 

I took several clips of our visit to Ninh Binh. Enjoy! They’re all pretty short…

 

Pix on the way back to Hanoi…

 

Study Questions:

1. Check the links about Ninh Binh and discuss the geology, biology, and natural history of the area.
2. Check the links and discuss the history of Vietnam – give an outline.
3. Focus on the first capital of Vietnam. What, where, who, how, why?

Here is more of the magnificent Halong Bay, several pix from the top of Ti-Top Island and our cruise ship…

 

After kayaking on the second day, Charlie and I jumped off the ship (a different one for kayaking from the one we slept in). Here we are jumping ship…

 

The food on board was great, very local, and just too much. There were six or seven dishes for each meal, every kind of local seafood, interesting carved garnishes, and watermelon juice…!

 

Halong Bay has a number of floating fishing villages where every lives on boats, and we saw them from the ship. We stopped at a Pearl Farm and had a demonstration of how the process works. Personally, the size of the seeds (little plastic balls) was a little disheartening, and I’m not sure if they eat the oysters…

Halong Bay has dozens of caves as part of its fascinating geology. Sung Sot Cave is the largest and a busy tourist destination. Lots of discussion about what various shapes resembled. Spelunkage…

 

Here are some more clips. One shows some of the tour boats bumping into each other as they gathered around a couple karsts that are apparent symbols of Halong Bay (and ya gotta get a pic), and another shows a guy smoking on a gasoline barge. Enjoy…

Misc. shots of Halong Bay. A deck I particularly enjoyed, karsts in the mist, the famous Halong rocks, and a vertical pano at the mouth of Sung Sot cave…

 

Study Questions:

1. Research Halong Bay again (another link?). Discuss geologic & human history, and any thing else you didn’t from the first post. How about seafood?!
2. Research Sung Sot Cave (link) and caves in general. How are they formed? What is depicted in the pix? List of famous caves?
3. Research pearl farming. How is it done? What is a pearl’s value? Discuss pearl economics. Read John Steinbeck’s book “The Pearl” What is the moral of that story?

After a day in Hanoi recovering from our flight from Kathmandu, we drove four hours to Halong Bay along the coast of north Vietnam. A region with spectacular natural beauty, it is a tourist industry by itself. The pic is from the top of Ti-Top Island and the clips are time lapse from our ship…

While the geography is incredible, the efficiency in the tourism quite impressive. On the way coming and going between Ha Noi and Ha Long there were tourist venues that started with bathrooms, proceeded to artisan workshops, then to impressive shopping displays and checkout, and a final potty option before getting back on the bus on the other side of the building. Some pix of products (and an incomplete sample at that)…

 

Here are pix from the ship (in one I’m pointing to a lake that I could see on Google Earth but wasn’t evident from the ship, another shows a parking spot, another shows the tender we towed to take us here and there, and there are a couple fishing boats as well)…

 

After dinner, both nights we were on the boat, C & V fished for small squid with the help of a light. They each caught one and a few jellyfish. (They were fried up for lunch on our last day.) Check it out…

Twice we went kayaking and twice I didn’t bring my iPhone. Each time we saw the spectacular scenery up close, went through several natural tunnels, saw monkeys and birds, and didn’t always enjoy the challenges of paddling in a tandem boat. On the second day, I took a short paddle solo to get some pix. Here they are, and a few from the boat…

We enjoyed a couple nice sunsets on Halong Bay…

 

Misc. clips…

 

Study Questions:

1. Research Halong Bay (use link at top). Where is it? How did it form? What is its history?
2. Research Vietnam tourism. How many people visit Halong Bay each year? What is the environmental impact? Does tourism hurt or help the environment?
3. Research squid(s). Describe the different types, their life cycle, and their nutritional valude.