Our Visit to Vietnam

We arrived in Hanoi with a bang on the tarmac in the darkness.  Was it an omen of things to come?

After consulting the travel counter, we decided that it would be easier to take a taxi rather than the airport shuttle to the downtown, some 40 miles away.  We showed the taxi driver the address of our hotel.  Unfortunately he did not read English and didn’t recognize the address.  He called the phone number of the hotel and spoke to a young man who directed him to another address.  The young man, told us that the hotel was overbooked and walked with us to a hotel “that was of the same quality.”  The Lemon Hotel was just that—a lemon:  the bedspread was ripped, one of the bed lights broken, and there was glass on the floor.   We asked the young man for a restaurant suggestion.  He brought us to a stall on the street.  We thanked him but declined the food and walked up the street to find a sit down restaurant.  About two blocks up the street we found a lovely hotel.  We walked in and asked if they had two rooms.  They did and we moved ourselves to the Hong Ngoc Hotel.  For exactly the same price we got two lovely rooms with a refrigerator, flat screen TV, and shower with a full bath.  Our room was even big enough to dance in!  No doubt we had been the victims of a bait and switch by the Sunshine Suites Hotel.  Happily Barbara notified Agoda, the booking agent and they subsequently refunded us for our Sunshine Suites Hotel rooms.

Exhausted, we had dinner at the Hong Ngoc Hotel.  Huong, the very friendly and helpful desk clerk, informed us that the rooms we booked were unavailable tomorrow night.  He suggested that we take our boat trip in Ha Long Bay tomorrow, spend the night there, and then return to Hanoi for one more night before leaving for Hue City.  Patty, Mark and I booked our passage on the Alova while we booked Barbara, not a fan of boats, at a hotel in town of Ha Long Bay.

Beautiful Ha Long Bay

Early the next morning we left Hanoi with 15 others for Ha Long Bay.   The four-hour trip was uneventful.  Mark, Patty and I took a tender to the Alova while Barbara was taken to her Ha Long Bay hotel. 

Our Alova travel companions

The Alova was on its 8^th cruise.  The new ship with 13 rooms and accommodations for 22 is a gem.  The ship has a first class chef and all the amenities.   We left the harbor and traveled southwest toward the magical mountains for which Ha Long Bay is famous.  The limestone weather-worn islands of which there are over 250, jut out of the bay reminding me of Coke bottles on a chess board.  The view is breathtaking and surreal.  We dine on a delicious lunch and meet the rest of our fellow passengers.   One is a man from Germany, and one is from the Czech Republic.  Three women and one man are from Malaysia and recruit Asian students to study in the US and Australia.  There is a family of 7 with 2 children.  After lunch we go to visit the famous Ha Long Bay cave and swim in a beach on one of the islands.  Life doesn’t get much better!

By early evening we were back at the Hong Ngoc Hotel in Hanoi.  We returned to our lovely large room.  We sought out a restaurant in the Old Quarter that was recommended.  The food was yummy and the ambience was festive.  We walked home the long way since I insisted upon setting our direction that turned out to be completely wrong. 

Huong and Mark

The following morning, Huong, offered to take us around the city.  We started with a walk to Hoan Kiem Lake to purchase tickets to Hanoi’s Water Puppets theatre.  We lucked out and got tickets for the early show.  The puppet show was lovely—45 minutes of music and puppets that was magical for both the adults and children. 

From there we hopped on a public bus with Huong and went to Ho Chi Min’s home.  In order to get to the home you had to visit his Mausoleum though we did manage to avoid the Ho Chi Min museum.  Ho Chi Min’s home was austere but elegant.  According to Huong, Ho Chi Min is affectionately called Uncle. 

After lunch at Koto, a restaurant used as a not-for-profit hospitality-training center for Vietnam’s street an disadvantaged youth.  (www.koto.com.au)  The food was fabulous and it made me feel good to support such a worthwhile mission.

From there we went to the Vietnam Ethnological Museum.  As always, I loved the museum; this museum even included an outdoor section with replicas of various minority tribe homes, tombs and temples.

We left Hanoi later that evening and traveled to Hue City.  Hue was the former Imperial Capital of Vietnam.  Hue is located on the Perfume River in the middle of Vietnam.  Hue was also pivotal in the Vietnam War (known as the American War in Hue.)  

The Romance Hotel was our home base during our time in Hue.  It was fortuitous that Barbara had arranged such a nice hotel for us.  The next morning we got an early start to explore Hue.  We went up for breakfast on the 11^th floor.   The food was plentiful and delicious but did not agree with Barbara.  Soon after breakfast she felt sick and went back to bed.  At the time none of us knew how sick Barbara really was.   While Barbara rested, Mark, Patty and I explored Hue.  I found a store that had old Blackberry parts and I was able to buy a replacement tracking ball and holder for my phone.   We also walked to the old Citadel that houses the remains of the old Imperial Palace.  I found a store that sold lovely silk blouses and another that raises money for disadvantaged disabled Vietnamese youth, called Healing the Wounded Heart Shop. 

Upon our return to the hotel, Mark and I treated ourselves to massages and I even got a much needed pedicure.   Ahh—to die for!  When I checked in on Barbara, I discovered a Vietnamese doctor in her room.  She felt so ill she had had the hotel call a doctor.  He diagnosed her with acute food poisoning.  He gave her some antibiotics to ease her discomfort. 

The following morning, Barbara still did not feel any better.  She was very concerned that the medicine she was taking did not seem to be helping her.  Later that day she asked the doctor to come by again.  By the following morning having talked to her doctor stateside, she still felt so terrible, she decided to go to the hospital.  Hue Central Hospital is a teaching hospital and blessedly, the doctor who had come to the hotel was on duty in the ER.  While Mark and Patty were checking out the Imperial City, Barbara and I were on our way to the ER.   After an array of tests and a night in the hospital, Barbara returned back to the Romance Hotel weak but healthy.  Navigating the hospital was fascinating and I must say, Barbara received excellent care.  Yesterday, Patty departed for Ho Chi Minh City to return to Seattle.   Unfortunately, due to Barbara’s hospitalization and our extended stay in Hue, we had to rebook our flights and were unable to visit Ho Chi Minh City. 

ER at Hue Central Hospital

Happily Barbara is almost back to normal today.  This morning, in the pouring rain, Mark, acting as our tour guide, took us through Hue’s Imperial City.  This afternoon we left Hue, via Ho Chi Minh City to Siem Reap, Cambodia.  We will be in Cambodia for a few days visiting Angkor Wat and then we will return to Bangkok. 

So was our bump on the tarmac an omen of things to come?   Perhaps.  But just like the airplane, in the end everything has turned out just fine.  Until next time, Happy Thanksgiving!