A big Buddha and a numb bum

On our last day in Hanoi I decided to map out a walking tour of the city visiting all of the sights we'd missed during our time there. I started our tour at Hoan Kiem Lake by visiting the Ngoc Son Temple, which enjoys views back out across the cityscape. After that we walked North towards the centre of the Old Quarter, through all of the shops and stalls. Each street has its own product, so you'll have fruit street, shoe street, scarf street, bag street and so on.

We made regular stops at cafes packed with locals for iced Vietnamese coffees (which I'm now totally hooked on) to keep out of the scorching heat of the day. We finished our tour back near the lake and had a lunch of raspberry granita for starters followed by two scoops of salted caramel for mains (I can do what I want, I'm on my jollies!) at my favourite ice cream shop, 'Fanny'. 

After lunch, and as if four hours of walking wasn't enough, I decided to take us for a full circle of the lake. By this time it was about 4pm and we were into Golden Hour. People had finished work now and were sitting with friends around the lake, eating and drinking, some doing crafts, some chatting and laughing together. It was a lovely relaxing stroll after a day in the hustle and bustle of the city.

The next morning we were collected from our hotel and taken to Bai Dinh, a massive Buddhist complex rising up from the hillside. As we were fighting the traffic out of Hanoi I commented that despite the number of vehicles on the roads, you never see any accidents. I hadn't even finished my sentence before we heard a crack and our minibus had hit a cyclist. Later we saw a truck cut down the middle by the central reservation with its cargo of watermelons spilled across the road. I'll learn to keep my mouth shut.

 Bai Dinh is not an ancient site like some of the pagodas we've seen, but was built between 2003 and 2010. To get to the big Buddha at the hilltop, you have to climb 600 steps passing 592 enlightened Buddhas, every one in a different pose, on the way. And I have to say, I was feeling pretty enlightened myself by the time I reached the top. Or do I mean light headed? 

The view from the top was well worth the effort though!

After Buddha mountain we continued on to Trang An Grottoes where we boarded a small wooden row boat for a 2 hour paddle up the Sao Khe River through a series of limestone caves. The water levels change throughout the seasons so sometimes it's impossible to get a boat through the low caves. We were just able to get through, but we had our heads between our knees most of the time. Outside the caves and back on the river we enjoyed stunning views of the surrounding mountains and a rare quiet with only the sound of the boat's oars slapping rhythmically away at the water.

After two hours on a wooden bench my legs had pretty much forgotten they were attached to my body and I fell out of the boat and stumbled away like I was 89. I was quite relieved to sit on a cushioned seat when our driver picked us up for the 2 hour drive back to the hotel.

Back in Hanoi we had time for a very quick dinner before rushing to the train station for our overnight sleeper train to Hue.

Good morning Vietnam!

I've missed south east Asia this year so I thought I'd book myself a little trip before Christmas as a respite from the dreariness of British winter. So I find myself in Vietnam, land of the dragon and many, many motorcycles (4 million of them to a population of 7 million in the capital alone).

First stop, Hanoi, the nation's capital, the city that gets so hot in summer you can fry an egg on the pavement.
Day 1 was a city tour taking in some of the most popular sights including the Vietnamese museum of ethnology and the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Complex (a traffic free (yay!) area of botanical gardens, pagodas, monuments and memorials. This is also the place of Vietnam's first university (established in 1076) and a popular destination for recent graduates in cap and gown queuing up to have their photo taken in various spots around the Temple of Literature.

On  the second day we had an early start with a long drive to Halong Bay where we boarded a traditional Vietnamese junk ship for an overnight cruise of the bay, navigating our way through the 1969 islets that punctuate the landscape.

After a hefty lunch of fish, fish, fish, followed by some more fish and then fish for dessert, we hopped onto a smaller boat for a tour of the fishing village where our lunch had just come from. The people of the village live on the water, some in small stilted huts held afloat by empty barrels, others live simply on small row boats with nothing but a raggy tarpaulin to protect them from the elements. Even children and pets live aboard these tiny homes where cooking, eating, sleeping, washing and working all takes place in a space no bigger than 2 metre squared, about the size of my bathroom at home.

Until recently, people from the fishing villages had no education so the older generations can't read or write. Their children, though, do receive some schooling, but only to infant/junior level - if they want to continue to secondary, they must go to a school on the mainland, which their parents would have to pay for. When the time comes to marry, they will almost always marry from within their community and continue life in the fishing village.

The evening meal was fish, fish and erm... fish. It was as if they'd phoned my mother and asked her what foods I don't like and then served them all together - fish, lemongrass, watermelon, banana and coconut. The food was beautifully prepared, and everyone else loved it, it just wasn't ideal for a non fish eater. I did make myself try everything though, and even faced my fear of shrimp - served with their coats on and their legs on show, I bravely undressed one, shut my eyes and popped it in my mouth, forcing myself to chew and swallow. Then I puked over the side. (I didn't, but it was a close call).

After dinner I went squid fishing off the back of the boat with a bamboo rod, a spot light and some wishful thinking. I was good! I caught a shower cap!
Next morning we jumped aboard the small boat again for a trip out to Hang Sung Sot (Surprise Cave) which is a massive cave system set high above the rocks with thousands of stalagmites and stalactites, including my favourite, known to them as the pointing finger; I call it the cock rock.
After the caves, another big fishy lunch (including squid from last night's fishing expedition. They didn't serve my shower cap though!) before heading back to the bay for a four hour drive back to Hanoi.