Red Zebra Labs

Our fun adventures continued on our way to Sapa. Once we got to Hanoi, we took moto-taxis to the train station. Except our drivers got a bit lost. I tend to have a not too bad sense of direction relative to where I am, and about 10 minutes into the ride it felt like we weren’t where we were supposed to be. I was right, we weren’t. The moto drivers took a look at our piddly Lonely Planet map, then kept going. It started to rain. A few minutes later we ended up at a fancy-looking hotel not too far from the train station. Jody’s driver got off the bike and (I would presume) asked for directions. Eventually we made it to the station.

We then discovered that because of the Vietnamese holiday, the trains we wanted to take were all sold out. We managed to get tickets on a train that was leaving in an hour, that was getting in around 5am. Since the alternative was finding a place to stay in Hanoi and taking a later day train, we opted for the early-arriving train. When we got to our destination we were still asleep, the train people had to wake us up and kick us off the train. It was about 5:30, still dark out. We got on a bus that drove up to the village of Sapa, about an hour and half away. We waited in the station’s parking lot until the bus was over-full with passengers and their bags, and off we went.

Sadly, the deal we got on a hotel room in Ca Bat would not repeat itself. While the day we arrived wasn’t a holiday and we could have a room for 10$, the next day would cost us 60$. After looking at a few places, we managed to negotiate a deal with a place that was kind of a hostel, kind of a guest house. We could have a quad room for 15$ each, but we were willing to share, and if more people joined us in our room the price would drop to 10$ each.

We walked around the city some. The local women, dressed in their traditional clothing, would follow us down the street, trying to sell us things. After a while, I started to walk from one side of the street to the other, around parked cars, just to see if they’d continue. And they did. One pair of women followed us from the “centre” of town to our guesthouse, a good 10 minute walk away, and stayed there for a good 15 minutes. They would ask us where we were from. I would say Japan and they’d back off somewhat.

Can you tell I was starting to get tired of the “where you from?” routine?

We walked to Cat Cat village just outside Sapa. The walk down is very touristy and had a lot of women selling clothes and trinkets. We passed by a waterfall and tried to find the path along the river that led towards another village but couldn’t find it. We walked over to the next village over, Sin Chai. Must less touristy and the locals seemed very curious about us. Some people were trying to invite us into their homes to smoke opium, but we declined. Jody was trying to find the path that led up Mount Fansipan, Vietnam’s highest mountain, but was unsuccessful.

The next day was grey and rainy. Jody had his own agenda for the day so I ended up chilling out at the guesthouse. I did take a walk around the markets and the town’s main square. There were so many tourists and colourfully dressed locals. The festival would be going on for a few more days, but we had our next destination ahead – China!

(We were in Sapa April 29-30)

Getting to Cat Ba Island was a long string of different transport methods. First, a moto-taxi to the bus station. Then a bus to Ha Long Bay. Then another bus to the dock, where a boat was waiting. Finally, a third bus from the port on Cat Ba to the town. On the way down we met an Australian couple, Andy and Krystal, who were returning to Cat Ba for a 3rd time in as many years. They had just come from climbing at Tonsai Beach, where the place we’d stayed at in March was going for 250 Baht a night, down from the 400 we’d paid while we were there. Andy was climbing at a level close to Jody’s while Krystal and I were close, though she didn’t do any lead climbing. They also had gear, meaning if we climbed with them we wouldn’t have to rent.

We found a place pretty quickly along the main road. Many places were offering room in the 8-15$ range, some with dazzling views. Our room was on the 5th floor with an ocean view. There was no elevator, no A/C, but Cat Ba wasn’t as hot as southern Vietnam, and sometimes the hot water didn’t work. But seriously, for 6$ a night (3 each), it was hard to complain.

The next 2 days we climbed. I managed to climb most of a 6b (about 5.10b) and finished a few 6a’s. The one climb I lead was late in the day, and by the time I was done it was dark and I shaking so bad I couldn’t even make my anchor. Fortunately Jody was able to climb up and clean the rock quickly. For lunch both days the people who lived just below the crag made us this HUGE delicious meal. It was hard to get up and climb afterwards, so we’d spend some quality time in the hammocks nearby before heading back out.

The 3rd day wasn’t good. I was still kinda shaky from the day before. In addition to the lead climbing I’d manage to damage the motorbike we rented, which wasn’t doing anything good for my self esteem. Jody didn’t wake up in the happiest of moods either. Plus it was cold and rainy. We took a walk to the nearby beaches, which were tranquil and deserted. I was really hoping to go swimming in the ocean with Jody, clearly that wasn’t going to happen. Jody then left for the crag for the roast goat they were having, and I stayed in our room, feeling tired and needing a break.

The next day greeted us with more cold and rain. We had opted to take a boat ride out around the islands, so it worked out nicely for a non-climbing day. We had 2 other couples with us. We did some kayaking around the coves and islands when the rain didn’t keep us hiding in the boat. For dinner that night the 6 of us headed to the Green Mango, one of the best (and most expensive) restaurants in town. The food was very, very good. There was a resident kitten that came up to visit us a few times

Our final full day was sunny. Andy and Krystal weren’t feeling up to climbing, so it was just the 2 of us. Many of the other climbers in town had gone deep water soloing, but I wasn’t interested. We ended up being the only people at the crag that day. I did another lead climb and felt a lot better about my leading abilities. Note to self – only lead very easy routes to get my confidence up. There’s no point in trying to lead a 5.9 if all I’m going to do afterwards is feel shitty that I didn’t make it up.

As much as we didn’t want to leave, after 5 full days we were heading back to Hanoi to catch a train to out final Vietnamese destination, Sapa.

(We were in Cat Ba April 22-28)

We were greeted in Hanoi with rain and touts. The rain was a bit of a surprise, the touts not so much. March-May is the hot, dry season in SE Asia. Jody and I had seen some rain on the way to Hue, and it had sprinkled a bit in Thailand and Laos. Seeing the rain was kind of refreshing after all the hot weather. The touts were more of a nuisance, to the point where Jody told one of them off. It’d been a long, uncomfortable night, and neither of us was in a good mood.

We couldn’t actually get a room for a while. Our train arrived around 6, before any guesthouses were able to take people. So we got some Pho and hung out around one area that said they had cheap (6$) rooms, but not yet. After a few hours of waiting we were getting different stories from different places as to when the cheap rooms would be ready (it was always “in an hour”), so we finally said fuck it and chose the place with the best price/location/not an absolute dump ratio.

We set out to explore Hanoi. We were staying in the French quarter, which has all these narrow twisty streets. In a way it reminded me of Paris, but not quite. We noticed quickly that there seemed to be streets that only sold one thing, such as the street that only sold toys, the one that sells herbal medicines, fabric, bamboo, electronic, etc. And of course, there are motos everywhere. At this point, we were able to navigate the moto traffic and cross streets with (too much) fear of getting hit.

We went to visit Ho Chi Mihn’s mausoleum, but sadly we missed the viewing time. We walked around looking for a lake that had a downed B52, but ended up being directed to the B52 museum, which was closed. There was lots of stuff just outside the museum, so it wasn’t a total loss. We then made our way to the Temple of Literature. For lunch went to KOTO, a restaurant dedicated to training former street youth for work in high end restaurants and hotels. We then headed north-east to Hoan Kiem Lake and walked around there, having some ice cream along the way, We topped off the afternoon with watching the water puppets show. That was really cool. The “floor” is actually a metre-deep pool of water. The puppeteers are behind a screen and scenery at the back of the stage, the puppets are controlled by underwater cables and rods. The puppets “enter” and “exit” by 2 top-hinged flaps (like a cat door) at the back of the stage.

The next morning we got up early and went to see Uncle Ho, that’s what they call Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam. We waited in a long line and went through multiple security and bag checks. No cameras are allowed in the mausoleum. Ho Chi Minh’s body is embalmed in a glass sarcophagus, and it’s really creepy to see. You’re ushered in and out really quickly, so you really only get a glimpse of him. Then we headed to the Hoa Lo Prison, which had been known as the “Hanoi Hilton”. It was a prison originally established by the French in the late 1800′s. Years later, many American POW’s were imprisoned here during the Vietnam war, including Sen. John McCain. There was an old guillotine For the rest of the day, we just wandered around, mostly in the Old Quarter. So many interesting alleys. I could have spend another just exploring them, but we were eager to get to our next destination, Cat Ba Island.

(We were in Hanoi April 20-21)

The short bus ride to Hue (pronounced Hoo-ay) was interesting. Vietnam, as well as other countries in the area, has special “sleeper buses” where, instead of regular seats, there are beds. Sometimes it’s rows of bunk beds along the sides and middle, sometimes every 2nd row of seats are removed and the remaining ones are long, fully reclining-style seats. The bus to Hue was one these the latter types, from Hoi An it was going all the way up to Hanoi. Unfortunately the seats are still really narrow, and moving my left arm above my head would mean the girl sitting next to me would end up with her head in my armpit. The girl sitting next to me turned out to be the same girl that Jody shared a train compartment with from Saigon. Small world.

After several minutes of walking up and down the same street, and ending getting a ride with the a moto taxi, I arrived at the guesthouse. Almost immediately after I arrive Jody suggested we buy our overnight train tickets to Hanoi. After thinking about it for a few minutes I agreed. So we walked to the train station, which was a nice enough walk along the river. On the way back there was a bunch of teenagers who were having an end-of-term party and gave us a balloon I was going to release it off the side of the bridge, but I dropped it off the riverbank path and it popped before going anywhere useful.

One thing I’ve yet to mention about Vietnam is the testimonials book. The restaurant owner from Hoi An had a book of all these people who’d come to his village and said what a wonderful place it was. Many motorcycle tour operators have these too, testimonials from people who’d taken one or several-day tours with individual drivers. One particular cafe in Hue, the aptly-named Cafe on Thu Wheels, takes it one step further, the entire place is covered with testimonials, on the walls, ceilings, etc. We took a tour with them as many of Hue’s landmarks are far from each other. We saw a covered Chinese bridge way out in the countryside and a museum of farm tools, then headed through farmland. On the way we passed a river full of ducks). We also saw an old WWII bunker used in Vietnam war and King Tu Duc’s mausoleum which had some really nice grounds around it. After that we rode to Thien Mu pagoda, a symbol of Hue. The car driven by Thích Quảng Đức, who burned himself to death in his car in Saigon to protest of the repressive government, also remains here. Finally, we saw the Citadel in the heart of Hue, which was mostly destroyed during WWII. It was pretty neat to walk around it, even if much of it was being reconstructed.

Other than that…not much. Hue was a nice city to visit, but not the kind of place I’d want to spend a lot of time in. Fortunately, the next stop was Hanoi, which was my favourite city in Vietnam.

(I was in Hue April 17-19)

After 18 hours or so on the train. I arrived in Da Nang, the closest city to Hoi An with a train station. From here I took a cab with a young, camera happy British girl named Libby. Like me, she was meeting someone in Hoi An and would need to contact them once we got into town. She’d been travelling for quite a while too, having gone to Sri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia and was making her way through Vietnam before heading onward to Laos, and later on India. She was just a huge ball of energy, I wondered if I had that much energy when I first travelled around.

The cab let us off somewhere in the middle of Hoi An, at the edge of the pedestrian-only section. Fortunately half a block up the road was an internet cafe with a phone. We contacted our travel mates and it turned out we were staying pretty close to each other. We walked to our respective guesthouse and said “bye for now, maybe I’ll see you later” to each other. I got settled in the room, cleaned up and waited for Jody to come by.

Jody came in, sunburned from his morning at the beach and we compared notes about our trip up. I told him about the kids playing Look A Foreigner! with me, and he told me about the girl he’d shared a compartment with, who’d been to India and now wanted to dye her blond hair brown. He also said he was ready to move on to Hue the next day. I told him I probably wouldn’t be, since I’d just gotten to town and knew I’d want to spend at least 2 days in Hoi An. I was still tired from my long train ride, so I relaxed and walked around for the rest of the afternoon, while Jody took the bike he rented and rode off to one of he nearby island-villages. That evening we had a great meal near the water and had “fresh beer”, one of the cheapest in the world, at 5000 dong (about 30 cents) a glass. The owner of the restaurant was trying to get us to come out to his village the next day, but we declined. We wandered more around the city, looking at the tailor shops. Hoi An is *the* place to go in Vietnam to get clothes made. Since the shorts I’d brought on the trip were getting ratty and too big (I was going to toss them at the end of the trip in any case), I poked my head in a few places.

The next day after choosing a place to get pants (1 pair zip off cargos and 1 pair capris with a dragon on the leg), I rented a bicycle and rode to the beach. The first one I went to, An Bang was beautiful and nearly deserted. However, I’d forgotten to bring my bathing suit and had all my valuables on me, so after a while I got back on my bike, stopped off at the guesthouse and rode to the much busier Cua Dai beach. Funny enough, I ran into Libby there, along with her friend and some people they’d met. I spent the rest of the day and most of the evening with them.

For my last day in Hoi An I wandered around the streets of the old town. The entire old town area is considered a historical site, and within this are over 20 museums and landmarks. Jody and I had stopped by a few the day before, and I saw a couple more the next day.

Next up – Hue

(I was in Hoi An April 15-17)

Saigon. Or if you prefer, Ho Chi Minh City.. From the moment our bus reached the outskirts of town I could feel the madness. Lots of traffic and lots of motos. None moving particularly fast. The city has roughly the same number of people as Bangkok, but feels less organized. It’s hard for me to explain why. It just felt like everyone is trying to get somewhere in a hurry, on their motos.

After some looking around we found a guesthouse in the backpacker/cheap guesthouse area of the city. On our way to dinner we ran into the British/Canadian couple we met on the bus, who had also looked at a few guesthouses with us. The 4 of us had supper at a Pho place, then we walked around the park that was near our guesthouse. There was some kind of tourism fair going on, along with some bands playing. It was kind of neat.

The next day we decided to check out a temple and Dam Sen park, a large park that had waterslides and a roller coaster. Only we never made it to the temple. The maps we had were mediocre at best and the heat was not helping either. After several minutes of walking around trying to find the place I said I’d had enough of looking and would rather just go to the park. So we did, grabbing some lunch on the way. On our way into the park we saw a very small kitten next to a tree. We petted it, put him a bit further away from the main road, and went into the park. In addition to the water park and the roller coasters, there was a small zoo, some odd sculptures and other amusement park rides. We didn’t see the elephant made out of CD cases, but we did see some some looking elephants in a pen. The park’s restaurant had a dragon made out of dinner plates.

The water park, while on the small side, was quite fun. Very refreshing from the very hot day. Sadly the big roller coaster wasn’t running. It wasn’t very big, so I wasn’t too disappointed. On the way out of the park I was wondering if we were going to see the kitten again. I think Jody was wondering the same thing. Just before we got to the gate we saw him, not very far from where we’d left him. I pick him up, he was about half the size of my hand. If this was Montreal I would have taken him home with me. Sadly, we couldn’t do that, but we got him some milk and water and hoped for the best.

We made plans for the next few days. We opted for a tour that would take us to the Cu Chi tunnels and the Cao Dai Great Temple, which Jody really wanted to see. Jody also wanted to lave Saigon the next day, but I still wanted to see a few things, so we decided to split up for a few days. We made to plans to meet up with Mel and Ted, who were also in Saigon.

The next day started like any other bus tour we’d done, by meeting somewhere and being taken to a central point to meet the other tour people. Our first stop was a village’s souvenir workshop and gift shop. While the stuff was really nice, I was kind of sick of being dragged around to gift shops as part of the tour. Jody picked up a neat wooden carving print.

The Cao Dai temple was pretty neat. We were just in time to catch to noon service. It’s supposed to be a combination of Catholicism, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, and it’s the only religion that originated in Vietnam. Lots of colours, both worn by the followers and the temple itself.

The Cu Chi tunnels date back to the Vietnam war. Some of the tunnels have been widened and lit so tourists can explore them safely, but a few are still how they were many years ago. Jody was small and brave enough to check them out. In addition to the tunnel there was a badly translated film, recreations of ground traps and army camps, and a shooting range. I shot my first gun, 5 AK47 bullets. I think I was scared about how loud the shots were than the fact that I was actually shooting a gun.

That evening we went for dinner with Mel and Ted, the British couple we’d met in Thailand. They were telling us about how their trip was going and some of the things they’d seen. They mostly gone to the same places we had, but had done different activities. They liked hearing about our elephants story and how much climbing we’d done. They’d done some elephant riding, but as part of a tour and not bareback. We sadly had to cut things a bit short as Jody had his overnight train to catch.

The next I did some museum seeing and walking around. I visited the War Remnants museum, which was really cool but sadly they were closing for lunch about half an hour after I got there There wasn’t anything else I wanted to see in that area of town, so I slowly walked around Saigon for most of the afternoon. I tried to find the Museum of Saigon but the map I had wasn’t correct. I walked around the Fine Art museum, it wasn’t big but a nice break from the heat of the city.

Once it was time for me to catch my train I took a moto-taxi to the station. I’d never been on one by myself, or with my big backpack. The driver put the big pack in front of him and I had my small one on my back. We rode through the rush hour traffic, which was really exciting for me. It was fast and crowded, and I held on to my seat as we zipped through the city. Just as I was really feeling comfortable and with being on the bike we were at the station.

(I was in Saigon April 11-14)

After a VERY rude awakening during the night (note to self – no more rooms with adjoining balconies or windows without glass!) we joined a bunch of local and westerner tourists in front of the hotel across the street. We were instructed to leave our bags in the lobby and were ushered to a boat at the dock. The first stop was a fish farm. It was in a home in one of the local floating villages. The were these 2 “pens” in the floor/dock of the home, inside were nets with living fish. We could toss food into the pens and the fish would just go crazy eating. I’m talking what looked like an absolute feeding frenzy! It looked the the water was boiling, that’s how active the fish were.

Stop #2 was the silk farm/local village. It was more like silk farm and souvenir shop really. We saw the loom the women used for weaving, but there was a large room filled with silk scarves right next to it. Also, along the side of one building were table of vendors with small trinkets, fans and snacks. I picked up a few silk scarves.

Our stops complete, we headed back to the boat, then back to the hotel where we were put on a 15 seat minibus. We sat next to a Dutch girl who had done a homestay the night before in the silk village and was now on her way to Saigon. She’d been in SE Asia for about 6 months, working in Chiang Mai for a while before travelling around. She was actually going to be flying back to CM for Songkran (Thai New Years celebration, when large water fights dominate the towns) in a few days.

As the bus continued it’s journey to Cantho, we stopped to pick up more passengers. Like Cambodia, just because there are X amount of seats in a vehicle doesn’t mean it can’t hold more passengers. There were people sitting, on people’s laps, on the floor and on small stools. At least there was AC.

Once in Cantho, the tour was over for he day us; the guide said someone would be meeting us the next morning to take us to the floating market and villages. While in Cantho Jody and I got to planning our Vietnam itinerary, With barely 3 weeks to spend to go from south to north we had to choose and cut out where we wanted to go. We decided to give the beach resort towns of Nha Trang and Mui Ne a miss, opting to just visit the beaches in Hoi An and Cat Ba instead. We both wanted to spend time in Saigon, Hoi An, Hue, Hanoi, Cat Ba and Sapa. WE also decided to visit the Cu Chi tunnels just outside Saigon and not the DMZ near Hue. With all that in mind, our arrival date in China would be between April 28 and May1.

Once we were done done planning we took a walk around for something to eat. After some time we came across a small place near the water that had a variety on Vietnamese and Western food. There were a few dishes containing snake. Not feeling overly daring, Jody had Pho and I ordered some goat curry, but I think it was actually lamb. We walked back to the guesthouse along the illuminated waterfront.

The next morning we set out to the floating market with our tour. We got on a large touring boat not unlike the one we were on the day before. The market it really a bunch of large boats selling mostly fruit and fish to smaller boats. Our boat went all around the market, then stopped next to one selling fruit. I got some pineapple on a stick. After the market we were taken to a place that made rice vermicelli and another small local village, A bunch of local kids showed up and followed us around. The tour leader waned us to watch our bags and pockets, since the kids had been known to try and steal.
We moved our bags so that they were in front of us, and the kids suddenly went away.

After the tour we stopped in Cantho to wait for our bus to Saigon. For lunch, a few people other people from the tour had seen snake on menus around town and were also curious to try it. Between our group of 8 or so more than half was game to try, so we got a snake dish to share. It was actually pretty good, kind of an oily meat. Don’t think I’d order it again as a meal for myself, but maybe to share as a group meal.

The ride to Saigon was pretty uneventful. Not long after leaving Cantho we had to take a short ferry ride over a river, as the bridge was still under construction. The boat consisted of motos and tour buses. Very few cars. I chatted a bit with a Canadian/British couple who had been teaching English in South Korea for the past year. Once off the ferry we had to find out tour bus, which wasn’t the easiest task since many buses look alike, and most people failed to take note of any distinguishing features our bus had, our what our driver looked like. Fortunately Jody was able to identify the bus, and we piled and headed north to Saigon.

(We were in the Mekong Delta region April 10-12 )