Anchors Aweigh!: Vietnam

Vietnam

March 25, 2011

We arrived into the port later than normal because of the tide. We got to the port around 11 in the morning. We went up the Saigon River a ways to get to the port. It was funny having our huge ship sail by these tiny boats with little motors transporting things like branches and bundles of leaves. Hanna and I had a trip planned to go to Hanoi to stay with her uncle so we were ready to explore the country away from Semester at Sea. We got off the ship and went to the airport in Ho Chi Minh City. Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam and is in the northern part of the country. Ho Chi Minh is more developed but less traditional. We didn’t get a chance to see much of Ho Chi Minh City (originally named Saigon) so it was hard to compare the two but Hanna’s uncle taught us a lot. When we were driving to the airport I was amazed at the sea of motorcycles that filled the street but besides that I felt numb to the culture shock. We have been to so many foreign places in such a short amount of time it was hard to absorb the initial culture shock feeling of the country. I feel so used to seeing things that are so different to what I am used to that it was just another city to me.

Everything went really smoothly for Hanna and me on our flight to Hanoi and we got to Hanoi around 6 p.m. Hanna’s Uncle Pat greeted us at the airport and he wasn’t hard to miss considering he is 6’ 4” and towers over the locals. He is in Hanoi working for the airplane side of Rolls Royce. He has a driver so we got in his car and the driver took us to Pat’s apartment. The sun was setting and it was really pink because the sky wasn’t very clear. We drove past so many rice paddies before we got into the city part and the sun reflecting on the water in the paddies was beautiful. There were just as many motorcycles in Hanoi as Saigon. The driving was CRAZY! There are no lanes and people once again honk at everything.

We got to Pat’s apartment building and went up to the 8ths floor to their very nice apartment. It was extremely spacious especially since just he and his wife lived there. They had a hug balcony that looked over the two lakes that were below their building. The lakes were surrounded with building but as it got darker the lights from the buildings reflecting on the lake looked so cool. Hanna and I stayed in a room that had 2 twin beds and a large bathroom. We were so lucky to be staying in such a nice place! We cleaned up and they took us out for traditional Vietnamese food. We had spring rolls and different kinds of chicken and beef with rice. They produce bananas and coffee (I would’ve never known if Pat hadn’t told us) so they had a lot of banana desserts and we tried fried bananas.

The next morning Hanna and I got to skype with our parents which was really nice because we haven’t had much contact with people outside of the ship besides brief emails. When I was trying to describe some of the things I have experienced that is when I realized what an impact this trip is making on my life. It was nice to be on the internet again but facebook is banned because of their communist government so that was kind of a bummer. That morning Pat took us to a pagoda and around the lakes to see the daily life of the locals. They have a lot of cafes and karaoke bars. We walked through a fish market and they had full chickens with the heads still on and everything bare without any feathers next to a dog that had been through the same process I’m assuming that took all its hair off but the tail and everything was still intact. There were intestines, brains, and all sorts of meats. It was just as shocking as any market I have walked into in this trip. After our walk Pat’s wife took us out for lunch and then to a women’s museum.

After the museum she went back to the apartment and Hanna and I walked around town. I will never forget having to cross the street in Vietnam. There is never a break in traffic and the cars don’t stop for anything. The trick is to walk into the traffic and take long strides and don’t stop. If you stay consistent the motorcycles will drive around you. It was so scary though walking in front of motorcycles going so fast and just hoping that they wouldn’t hit you. We survived though and were pros by the end of our trip. The North Face factory is in Vietnam so Hanna and I got some backpacks on the street. We walked around and stopped for a drink trying to soak in the chaos of the city. We paid a man $5 to drive us around on his little bike rickshaw and it was fun to be in the middle of the traffic. We made our way back to the apartment and went out for Indian food.

The next morning Hanna and I were picked up by a tour company to take us to Halong Bay. We picked up a van full of people from their hotels in Hanoi and drove 3 hours to the bay. The weather was overcast and there wasn’t much to see on the drive. It was so fun to travel just the two of us because there were so many different types of people at the rest stops and at the entrance of the bay. There were a lot of Australian tourists and young backpacking groups. When we got to Halong Bay we got on a boat that took us out to a boat that we would stay on for the night.

Halong Bay is a bay with 3,000 islands poking out of the water. The story of how they were formed is that a dragon lashed his tail around the bay forming all the islands. Halong means descending dragon. The geological reason for the islands formation is that over millions of years the rain eroded the islands into what they look like today. It was a very beautiful place. We went to one of the islands that had a huge cave in it. There was a path touring the whole thing and it probably took us 30 minutes to get through. We ran into a lot of Semester at Sea kids there that were on different boat tours but that was the only time we saw any SAS people on our whole trip. It was really nice to be on our own. After we were back on our boat our new French friends asked us why a lot of the people we talked to had their heads shaved. They thought they had lost a bet or something but it was really because of Neptune Day. I can’t remember if I mentioned that in my last blog but before we got to Singapore we had Neptune Day on the ship which is basically just a tradition when you cross the equator for the first time (even though we had already crossed it a few times but this fit the best in our schedule I guess) and you do initiation type things to go from a pollywog to a shell back. The tradition is to shave your head, have fish guts dumped on you, jump in the pool, kiss a fish, and then kiss King Neptune’s ring (which was the captain painted green). I did everything but shave my head like most people but there was about 40 people that did shave their heads. So as if we don’t stand out enough being white college students roaming around in Asia, now a good chunk of them are bald.

We went kayaking around some of the islands and had a nice dinner with a group of Polish people on our boat. They shared their wine with Hanna and me. I don’t like wine but I choked it down to be polite. The next day we hiked to the top of another island and had a great view of all the islands in the area. We learned how to make spring rolls and then headed back to Hanoi around 1. When we got back Hanna’s Aunt and Uncle had to go to an opera they were invited to so Hanna and I got our nails done (mani and pedi for $10 with a cool design) and had the place to ourselves for the night.

We flew back to Ho Chi Minh City the next morning and spent the afternoon shopping. We went to a popular market that had all sort of designer clothes, purses, make up, and perfume. They have many very talented seamstresses in Vietnam so a big part of the market was for women making all sorts of clothes. A lot of the people on the ship got suits and dresses made for the ball that we’ll have at the end of the voyage. Hanna wanted one but it usually takes them five days to make them. When we were walking around a lady grabbed us and kept assuring us she could have a dress made by 5 pm before we had to get on the ship. She wanted to show us pictures of dresses she could make so she told us to follow her. We thought she was just bringing us to another stall in the market but instead she lead us out of the market, across the street, down the street a ways, through a moped shop, passed a cock fighting ring in the back of the moped shop, went up three flights of stairs, and finally into their little apartment with 6 sewing machines and fabric everywhere. Hanna bargained a price from $60 to $30 and got a cute little black dress made just in time.

We had a great time in Vietnam and couldn’t believe how smoothly everything went for us. The mass amount of motorcycles will always stick out in my memory when I think of Vietnam. Most girls and some guys would were surgical masks to cover their nose and mouth while driving through all the exhaust. It has turned into a fashion statement so now they are made out of pretty clothes and not only do they where them for pollution but also to keep the skin on their face white. It was pouring by the time we got on the ship on Wednesday night. We didn’t leave until the next morning when the tides were back up.