Wednesday 18 June, 2008- Written from Ha Noi, Vietnam

My computer has been having electrical problems, so it looks like I will have to write entries the old fashioned way from now on. In the mean time, I have lots of catching up to do and will have to unfortunately summarise the past week or two...

The days after my parents arrived were spent further exploring Saigon and taking day trips around the region. We took one trip (including my aunt's family, grandmother, parents, Seth, and I) to a town a few hours northwest of Saigon, near the Cambodian border. The town, Tay Ninh, is famous as the birthplace of the newly created religion, Caodai (1925), and houses a massive temple for its worshipers. Caodaism fuses aspects of Bhuddishm, Christianity, Islam, Confusionism, and several other religions and secular thinkings into what I found to be an almost comical hodgepodge of a religion. It is strange for me to think that people could be so faithful to something that seems to be so arbitrarily created, though its integrative approach seems 'ideal'. This sentiment, combined with the heat and the crowds of tourists, made me quite thankful to leave the temple.

Caodai Temple, Tay Ninh

Caodai worship service, Tay Ninh

Cambodian border (near Tay Ninh)

Our second day trip started early, and Seth decided to stay in Saigon for this one. It was organised by my grandma and took us into the Mekong Delta to visit some of her side of the family. In Saigon, we picked up her two aunts (my great-great aunts), grabbed three roast ducks, and drove a few hours southeast, into the Delta. We took the van across a river via ferry, then drove it down an extremely narrow, newly paved road through some small villages. It was apparent the road was only meant for pedestrians, bicycles, and the odd motorbike, and taking the van in, which filled the road and scraped against low hanging branches, seemed a little silly (why could we not just walk in?).

We stopped at a little thatched roof house with dirt floors and were quickly greeted by at least two dozen people of all ages. I was told they were almost all relatives (though Mom was not sure of the relations), with the exception of a few children who were probably neighbourhood kids stopping by out of curiosity. After steamed banana rice cakes and coconut milk drinks, about 25 of us crammed into one long fishing boat and floated over to the family burial plot located on a nearby island. Mom and the older ladies visited with deceased relatives and made offerings of roast duck and fruit, then we floated back to the village, where we ate the unlucky ducks and fruit :o)

After lunch the young kids got extremely excited and pulled me, Tammie, and Julie along for quite a ride through the village. Once they saw I brought a camera they would rush over to a nearby spot, line up, have me take a picture, crowed around to look at the picture on the camera and squeal and laugh, then zip over to another location to repeat the process. We visited the dirt floor primary school, the temple, and a few back roads, taking pictures at every turn. I was lucky to have Julie and Tammie there to help translate, otherwise I would not have known what to do!

One older girl, Tuyen, (I think she is 19, but could easily pass for 13) seemed to be the ring leader of the youngsters. I believe she is the granddaughter of my Mom's cousin. She was very cheerful, enthusiastic, and never let me out of her sight. Her English was not very good but she was able to get her point across using a variety of tactics, the most effective being writing words and short phrases on a piece of paper for me to read (her writing English was better than her speaking). We exchanged email address and promised to keep in touch (she has internet access every Saturday).

The entire day was a real whirlwind experience, even though Dad and I were uncertain what was happening for most of it (only Vietnamese was spoken unless I asked someone to translate a particular idea, and this unfortunately did not happen very often). The atmosphere was extremely celebratory and buzzing with energy, and the family so totally and unconditionally generous to their western counterparts. It is hard to believe that I have family living in what we would consider 'poor conditions' in a country so foreign and different to our own--it is an extremely grounding experience.

Loading onto the ferry (Mekong Delta)

Nearly there (Mekong Delta)

Warm greeting (Mekong Delta)

Tammie and Julie having cake and coconuts (Mekong Delta)

The house of one of Mom's cousins (Mekong Delta)

*My camera died right after this so I will post additional pictures from Dad's camera within a few weeks*

Besides these two trips, we spent a few days running errands in Saigon and soaking up the city. One thing my parents, Seth, and I did was take a leap of faith and visit a public dentistry to have our teeth cleaned for a fraction of what it would cost in the US. Mom knows a woman who is one of the directors of a major dentistry in Saigon, which let us jump a long queue of locals waiting for their turn to see the dentist. The cleaning was much needed (Seth had not seen a hygienist for 4 years and I for 2), and went over remarkably well. Besides this, we also went to an optometrist to have our eyeglass prescription updated (glasses in Vientnam are about a third the cost), and in the evening a tailor came to our hotel to fit us for some new clothes. Seth and I will have several suits made, each only about $80USD. I also had two traditional Vietnamese dresses (ao dai) made by picking out material at a shop, coming up with a design, and being measured, though it was hard to imagine what the finished product would look like in advance.

Xoi (Sticky rice) Man! (Near our hotel in Saigon)

Selling coconuts in the road (Saigon)

View of the alley from the window of our hotel room (Saigon)

Dinner with the family (Saigon)

Buying Vietnamese coffee, which is roasted in butter and tastes like chocolate (Saigon)

Exercisers in the park where we go running (Saigon)

Every inch of park is used

Tea and coffee (Saigon)

Lots of electrical wires (Saigon)

Amazing bakery! (Saigon)

Tiny banana (Saigon)

Breakfast in the cafe below the hotel (Saigon)

Overly manicured Tourist Park (Saigon)

On Thursday (12 June), we had a final brunch (dim sum) with my aunt's family and grandma, then Mom, Dad, Seth and I departed for our flight to Hanoi. The taxi ride into downtown Hanoi, complete with thumping techno music, gave us an idea of what to expect: a somewhat more western and a bit more slick city than Saigon. This is contrary to what many people from the south of Vietnam would say, who claim that Saigon is the big city and Hanoi (a much older 'country' city) is still behind in its development. Upon first glance Hanoi seems to have more aggressive and more flashy people, and perhaps even a darker underbelly--at least where we are staying, drugs and prostitution are more apparent than what we saw in Saigon (though nothing beats Saigon's numerous late-night "haircut" and "massage" parlours!).

View of mountains and river from airplane

We checked into a hotel that was suggested to us through friends, which to our surprise was a kinda seedy backpackers. Mom and Dad immediately began to make arrangements for tours while Seth and I walked around some markets nearby and then took a taxi to a restaurant to meet with his old Aussie friend, Luko, who happens to be living and working in Hanoi. We ate a place recommended by the Lonely Planet, and though the food was pretty good, there were only Westerners at the shop -- something unusual for us, as we typically favour the spots where mainly locals go. Afterwards Luko fit the three of us on his little motorbike to cruise over to a place for gelatto (a scary ride, considering the streets were bustling, it was very rainy, and Seth and I were without helmets!). After saying goodbye to Luko, Seth and I got a phone call from Dad saying the taxi driver who gave us a ride from the airport scammed us and took us to the wrong hotel. Taxi drivers will sometimes do this because they may get commission from the hotel for bringing in clientele. We checked out of that shady backpackers and went to the much nicer hotel we originally booked, a few kilometres away.

Markets in Hanoi's Old District

Having a snack, Hanoi

The next day was spent exploring Hanoi--first was a jog around one of the lakes right across from the hotel (Hoan Kiem Lake), followed by a walk around the town. We headed for Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum (which was closed) then to the Temple of Literature. The temple was originally built nearly 1000 years ago (around the time when Hanoi was built) and dedicated to scholarly research, though I do not know if there is any original piece of the temple or its grounds that remains. In the evening the four of us met up to watch one of Hanoi's famous water puppet shows, which was very charming yet also a little cheesy, then Seth and I caught a train to Sapa. Mom and Dad wanted to spend another night in Hanoi so they could take a tour of the Perfume Pagoda the following day. The hotel booked two tours for us (Sapa and Halong Bay), and though Seth and I have always tried to keep free of tours, we decided in this case it would be the best thing to do--but to compromise we would get to Sapa a day early to explore it a little on our own first.

Hanoi

Uncle Ho's Mausoleum, Hanoi

Temple of Literature, Hanoi (nearly 1000 years old)

Doctor's Stelae at the Temple of Literature, Hanoi

Water Puppets Show, Hanoi

The trip several hundred miles north into the highlands, near the Chinese border, consisted of an overnight sleeper train (which was not cleaned and smelled pretty rank), and in the morning we were met by a guide who took us on a minibus through windy, misty mountain roads from Lao Cai to Sapa. Sapa is known for its beauty and for the hill tribes who have settled in the region. The tribes maintain their traditional way of life and have become a 'must see' for anyone travelling to north Vietnam.

The second Seth and I stepped out of our van in front of our hotel we were 'greeted' by nearly a dozen little montagnard girls in exotic and beautiful clothing firing off question after question at us: 'what's your name?', 'where you from?', 'have brothers or sisters?', 'where you stay', etc. How charming, they were practicing their English on us!

After some confusion over our hotel, we went for a quick late morning jog around town (we did not know that we would not be able to go to the neighbouring hill tribe villages without a guide or permit, which really limited our running routes), and since it rained most of the rest of the day we were unable to explore outside Sapa. However, the Saturday Market was on so we got to fight the crowds and wander around the vendors and stalls...