Halong Bay and Ho Chi Minh City

Hello Everyone from Ho Chi Minh City


We are still enjoying the chaos of Vietnam but now we are in the southern part, in old Saigon. Before I update you on all that has happened since this city went from Saigon to Ho Chi Minh City we need to rewind back to Halong Bay.

After our hectic walkabout in Hanoi, I was sure glad to get some R&R!! Halong Bay is touted by the Vietnamese as being one of the Seven Wonders of the world. I am not sure about all that hype but it is one beautiful place, although at one point Chris said it reminded him of Possum Kingdom Lake (which he thinks Hell's Gate should also be one of the Seven Wonders). We had to take a three hour bus ride to get to the Bay through the countryside of Vietnam. While there were rice paddies, mostly it was random half urbanization along the "highway" and not quite as scenic as promised in the tour brochure. After we arrived, I quickly bought a typical Vietnamese conical hat for about 80 cents. Chris bought a more "manly" hat for the four hour boat trip, but I still got him to try on my hat!
Chris in my conical hat

The boats that cruise the bay are called junks. We hopped on our piece of junk...I mean, junk with a few other day trippers for the ride. At this point we were starving so thankfully we headed straight to the fishermen huts floating in the middle of two islands in the bay. We watched our crew negotiate a price for a large fish. Then, without warning, the fisherman whacked the fish with a large metal rod to kill it and handed it over to our crew. A few minutes later, we were munching on that fish, stir fried with a few vegetables. Talk about freshness!! Anyways, we relaxed some more on the boat before we went cave exploring.

Chris and I in Halong Bay

After our tour guide explained to us that we were on our way to some caves, we really didn't know what to expect. Surprisingly, the cave was a little Disneylandish, complete with the rules of the cave being piped over a loud speaker before we entered, fluorescent colored lights illuminating the cave and a horde of tourists. The cave was quite beautiful but our tour guide kept showing us natural animal shapes made from the rock. Most of us weren't buying what he was telling us but he was sure insistent. At one point, the Russian girl said, "I think the Vietnamese have very good imaginations because I don't see any of what our guide tells us!"

After our long ride back to Hanoi, we had a nice simple meal of Pho which is Vietnamese beef noodle soup and called it a night. We headed to Ho Chi Minh City the next day to continue our tour of Vietnam.

Ho Chi Minh City is somewhere between Bangkok and Hanoi in its development. The infrastructure seems to be better than Hanoi but lacks the small winding charm of the capital. HCMC, also still called Saigon by most of its inhabitants, definitely leans towards the West and Bangkok as far as the hustle and bustle of city life. Similarly, there are still millions of motorbikes and crossing the street is a little like a human version of the video game Frogger.

We had a nice ramble through the streets yesterday just trying to get the feel of District 1 of Saigon, which is the oldest and most tourist-worthy of this city of almost six million people. We got lost about four times before returning to our neighborhood, the Pham Ngu Lao area. Today we plan to see the Reunification Palace, the War Remnants Museum. We also hope to find some of the places important to the Americans stationed here during the war.

One last topic that we have inadvertently skipped in our last few postings....our evening cooking class in Chiang Mai, Thailand. We had a class of about eight people in our group and the class started off with a trip to the market. After the quick market lesson in all the different vegetables and fruits, we chose the four dishes were preparing, Chiang Mai noodles, Tom Ka Kai Soup, Cashew Chicken Sir fry and Green Curry Chicken. Chris was a natural in the kitchen and will be in charge of Thai night when we finally have a kitchen again!!

Green Curry Chicken

The other participants definitely made for interesting topics of conversations but not the most expert in the kitchen. Our "chef" instructor, kept picking on this one guy in the group because he was more interested in talking than cooking. Three of our classmates were traveling alone so I think they were happy to eat and chat during a meal. All in all the cooking class was a fun experience but not as educational as I had hoped. I guess after all those classes in Paris, I am just spoiled! Anyways, I hope you enjoy the photos of Chris in an apron as much as I did!!

Chris making Tom Ka Kai Soup