Vietman: Yes, They Warned Us...

I did not actually grow a giant left Elven ear, it only looks that way.  Just sayin'.

Touching down in Vietnam, just hours south of Beijing, was like being transported around the world again.  Gone was the clean, crisp, colorful feel of Beijing.  We traded skyscrapers for patchwork hovels, cars for scooters.  The distinct disparity was at first disheartening.  But we were soon caught up in a culture that seemed to find joy in mere existance.   Yes, they warned us it's a beautiful country, and they were right!

Life here is simple, slow moving and uncomplicated  (apart from the political system which the average tourist is not immediately aware of).   

Our first night in Hanoi, North Vietnam, we wandered the streets, getting a feel for this place.  Between potholes, garbage and dog poop, one learns quickly not to take your eyes too far from the sidewalk you walk along.  Like gullible law-abiding Canadians we stopped at the street corner waiting for the light to turn.  We never did figure out what the traffic lights were for.  Duck and dodge became the only way to cross the street, through hordes of scooters that stopped and started randomly with no apparent regard for traffic signals or pedestrians.  There is an art to surviving here, we'd discover.

The scooters themselves were multi-functional, multi-family modes of getting around.  Anything you can put in a half-ton pickup they can load on the back of a scooter.  Cows, crates of chickens, plate glass windows and furniture - we saw it all.  And minivans?  Whatever!  Six people and the family pet fits easily on the sleek seat of this two-wheeler.  There's no room for obesity in this country.

There was a sense of community here, though, that was unmistakable.  The sidewalks were littered with tables and chairs filled with locals, women cooking soup up by the vat-load, young ladies washing dishes in tubs...all along the street fronts.  Why take it indoors when the action's outside?  They ate together, they smoked together, they laughed together and they peed together at the tree beside the soup pot.  

The countryside is riddled with stilt-houses and water buffalo (they look like cows only whiter, bonier and lacking restrictive fences).  A 4 hour drive brought us here...Halong Bay...one of the most picturesque places on earth!

We jumped a Junk and headed into the impossibly emerald waters of the enormous bay...

to see lots of these...

and these...

and these. 

We ate lots of this...

and chatted with a few of these...until our overnight cruise brought us here...

                                                                     

to a tiny floating fishing village...

where the child's playground is a bamboo boat...

and 3 generaions take up a 12' x 12' square.

They are a proud people who take care of their elderly and live from day to day with seemingly no hang ups over world wealth distribution or lack of satellite TV service.

Onward to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), South Vietnam.  Add about 10 degrees to the daily temperature and a much greater respect for clean streets.  Here we checked out a University of Confuscianism.  It was graduation day.

A round of hacky sack with the boys

We boarded a Sampan and chugged up the Mekong Delta,

destination...

a small island of fruit farming, coconut plantations and coconut candy factories where the candy is produced under the shade of palm trees in giant vats.

They entertained while we sampled the amazing fresh fruit

Then dared us to show some true Canadian grit...

sampling the cobra & scorpion whiskey...

and wrestling with a python.

We met a few less threatening friends along the way too.

How does one begin to describe Vietnam in a nutshell?  You can't!  We can put a price on the cost of the adventure but the experience and the memories are PRICELESS!