Ha Long Bay

Ha Long Bay is located on the Gulf of Tonkan and features over 1600 islands formed out of limestone. We spent two nights traveling through the bay. The whole time we were there the bay was filled with a thick fog creating a mysterious setting. At night the crew would shine a strong light over the water - attracting schools of large squids and catch them with a net. On this little trip I ate every size and shape of squid imaginable and I came to the realization that unless they're fried their taste is bland and akin to munching on soft rubber.

A ship similar to the one we traveled on. Islands upon islands of limestone


Bryce and I taking a quick & cold dip


Inside of a cave we explored within the bay


An actual floating town within the Bay -the best place for a child to learn how to ride a bike



A Buddhist temple in the middle of nowhere


Strange limestone formations


Some sea kayaking fun - the tour guide went hoarse from yelling at us to stay with the group - one of the few times where it was a blessing to not understand Vietnamese and feign innocence.

Sapa

SAPA

This a small town perched high in the mountains of N. Vietnam. The surrounding area is lush with green forests, and filled with various indigenous mountain tribes. The whole time we were here it was extremely foggy, which I guess is quite usual for this place - but they went a step further and began burning the fields in the afternoon causing a fog + smog overload allowing you to see only a few meters around you. Before the fog we did get a chance to climb the mountain in the center of town and we were rewarded with a great view of the city and outlying areas.



View of the weekly market - tribe folk from nearby rural mountain villages come to trade their hand crafted wears and crops at this market. Even though it was a whole lotta hustle and bustle this was pure serenity incomparison to Hanoi.














Town center of Sapa - even in the fog and smoke its a beautiful place




View of the town from the surrounding mountains - if you look closely you can seen the French influence on the architecture.

Hanoi

Hanoi is pure lunacy, especially in comparison to relaxing laid-back Laos. The sounds of engines and horns fill the air constantly from 6AM to 11PM daily. The Vietnamese use their horns like they use their tires - when they turn they honk, when they stop they honk, when they slow down they honk, when they speed up they honk, when they say hello they honk, when they say goodbye they honk - basically when they do anything but hit you they honk. Aside from non-stop noise - Hanoi is the city of thievery and lies - I have never been to a place like it and hope that there isn't another place similar to it, it is the akin to Gotham City & Sin City - filled with all the same inhumanly devious souls - they're pirates I tell you. I understand and am ok with locals charging tourists higher prices for things, but people of Hanoi go staircases further. If you try to book train tickets through your guest house they'll tell you the train is all full and that you'll have to stay another day - when in fact its not full + they'll try to charge you twice as much for train tickets. If you don't pay attention to the prices of menu items they'll charge you more for them and even if you call them out on it they'll tell you that the menu prices are old. All the guest houses and some of the restaurants will try to charge you a 10% government tax, and there isn't even a government tax of that sort + it takes 20 minutes of bickering to finally get them to remove it. The list goes on and on + aside from the lies - when trying to sell tourists goods they hassle them incessantly, and refuse to listen to the word "no," but will instead follow you for blocks grabbing you and shouting in your ear to buy buy buy. The only good thing about Hanoi are the massive quantities of blackmarket DVD's and CD's, which you can buy for a dollar. The local artists here are also quite amazing, and if you want to spend 30-40 dollars you can get replicas of aged masterpieces from the famous artists of Van Gogh, Monet, Dali, and Harper. Aside from these few perks the best part about Hanoi is leaving it.

Bryce getting hassled by a local to purchase some post cards.


The N. Vietnamese have a very different perspective on the war, than the one found in US textbooks... Their Army Museum was quite interesting & here are some photos.

Golden Uncle Ho & me


Mig Fighter


Tank 843 (the actual one), a Soviet-made T54, was the first tank to crash into the palace gates during the strike on Saigon by the N. Vietnamese on April 30, 1975. This strike occurred hours after the final US helicopter had left the country, and led to the collapse of the S. Vietnamese government.


The A-37 Dragonfly was a low cost efficient means for fighting the guerrilla tactics used by the Vietnamese



Bell UH-1, "Huey."



A bunch of pieces from various French and American planes shot down in Vietnam




Photos from the Hoa Lo Prison, aka Hanoi Hilton, which was built by the French to imprison Vietnamese political prisoners, and later used by the Vietnamese to hold American POWs (John McCain was one of the POWs held here). The Vietnamese strongly deny torturing American POWs, and in fact state the opposite: "though having committed untold crimes on our people, the American pilots suffered no revenge once they were captured and detained." They even state that this prison was more like a home away from home - complete with lots of free time for the inmates to play the guitar, read, and get involved in some great cooking + they got to send and receive all sorts of mail from home. I wondered if the museums statements coincided with what John McCain and his fellow prisoners said about their stay at the Hanoi Hilton - and found out the opposite McCain said he was beaten & held in solitary confinement and witnessed the killing of his fellow comrades at the hands of prison guards at his "home away from home."(a New York Times article of McCains return visit to the Hanoi Hilton can be found @ http://www.vietnamwar.com/johnmccainbio.htm - I don't know much about the objectivity of the whole website).

One with the Vietnamese dissidents who were held and tortured in Hoa Lo Prison by the French.


A memorial wall dedicated to those held by the French in Hoa Lo Prison.


On a much lighter note - the best bang for your buck when your looking for a bite to eat is Doner Kebap - only 10,000 Dong (about 68 cents).


Thang Long Water Puppet Theater - an ancient traditional art native to N. Vietnam practiced by moving puppets connected on long poles through and on top of a shallow pool of water. Instruments and vocals produced by local Vietnamese musicians accompany the display.
Sorry I couldn't get better photos. The show is quite amazing with the puppeteers being quite deft in their control the puppets.

Vientiane

The capital of Laos - Vientiane. There's not too much do in Vientiane except for see the Arch of Triumph, which looks similar to the Arch of Triumph in Paris from a distance. Up close though you can see the Laotian modifications to it. There is also the Pha That Luang (the Great Sacred Stupa), which I guess is a symbol of Buddhism and Laos sovereignty.

Bryce and Olli - hanging out at a local Laos karaoke bar. Olli is from Finland and is the fastest eater I have ever met - he attributes his speed to the Finland military, which every male from Finland must serve in for at least 2 years.


On our way to Wonderland (a bar beheld in a mansion located in wealthy neighborhood)



It was an very hot day in Vientiane and I think we're all a bit dehydrated in the photos - but this is Pha That Luang.
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A wat across from Pha That Luang

The Arch of Triumph - miniaturized

Inside the arch - notice the Laotian/Buddhist decor

The view from up top

Friends in front of the arch (Bryce, Olli, Me, Jenny, and Jenny)

Vang Vien

Note: Bryce got his camera stolen in Hanoi by a mob of women that appeared out of no where late at night - so all the photos he took since Luang Prabang are now in the hands of the Vietnamese & I've become the sole provider.

Vang Vien is a small remote town midway between Luang Prabang and the capital of Laos, Vientiane. This place has become an easy favorite out of the towns I've visited for this whole S.E. Asian trip. The scenery surrounding it is breath taking - with massive mountains arising straight out of the ground and littering the entire country side, and there is great river that cuts through the town. We got a bungalow complete with hot water and shower right alongside the river for a mere $10. The people in this town are genuinely friendly and very laid back - they don't hassle you like the people of Thailand and Vietnam and they love to laugh. This place is a mecca for those that love the outdoors with tons of deep caves to explore, crystal clear lagoons to swim in, and a river to go tubing down, and everything is easily accessible by bike, which you can rent for $2 a day. Tubing down the river here is very akin to tubing down the Boise River except that here there are bars all along the river and many of them have zip-lines and swings that throw you off into the waters. One of the swings here, the Flying Fox, those you off at about 40ft - its quite the drop and a whole lotta fun. The strangest part of this town though has to be the town itself, which has no nightlife because of Laotian laws regulating how late bars can be open (11 or 12 at night), but from early in the morning till the night it has restaurant/bars that showcase various American television shows and movies. There are three restaurant/bars right next to each other that play Friends all day and night, and even stranger is that these places are packed with Europeans whom love the show - I guess even more than the great outdoors.

But before we got to Vang Vien I ran into a pet of one of gas station owners on the road between Luang Prabang and Vang Vien - poor little fellow is locked up all day on a propane tank, but it doesn't stop him from running circles around the tank 24/7.


Here's a scenic photo taken from the bus as we head towards paradise



And here are a large group of photos taken right outside our bungalow - the sunsets here are always different, but also always amazing









Here's a silhouette of the taxis they use in Vang Vien - they are very bizarre looking machines with the motor resting up with the front wheel and the turning controlled with a handle similar to a push lawn mower.



Me hanging out in the river, which the best way to cool off in this extremely hot town.





Road construction was going on throughout the whole town of Vang Vien - probably very similar to road construction in the US 50 years ago.




We rented bikes that were quite nice -especially in comparison to those we used in Ayutthaya. There are a huge amount of caves a few km outside of town and we road our bikes to a great number of them.


The Blue Lagoon outside of Phoukam Cave & some shots of us jumping off the tree into the refreshing crystal clear waters.







Phoukam Cave - the largest cave in Vang Vien complete with a laying Buddha. It's very difficult to get clear photos in the caves because a lack of light, and the flashes on our cameras are not very powerful, but here are some of the better pics.




Its also impossible to truly capture the size of the cave as well as the beauty of the formations beheld within.





This is a spider we saw in numerous caves in the area - you can't tell by the photo, but it has massive luminous eyes obviously playing a role in allowing it to see in the pitch black caves.





Bryce ran low on funds & had to pick up a local job at the sewage treatment center.

Just joking - one of the caves we crawled into was very deep and narrow and also had pool of disgustingly murky water at the end of it. We were already soaked in so much sweat due to the heat and amount of energy we expended in getting to the end of the cave that we said the hell with it and jumped in. Our guide, a rickety old man, told us to hold our breath and go under a portion of the cave - we kindly refused to stick our heads under the water. After our mud bath - he wiped us off with a filthy towel ridden with holes - I guess we truly couldn't get any dirtier.

The bridge to Chang Cave, a very popular cave with the locals, because it is outfitted with various lights, man made stairs and sits in the center of a nice park.



Area surrounding Chang Cave



Inside the cave - you can see the unnatural lighting

There is a hole in the cave from which you get a pretty good view of Vang Vien




We sadly were robbed of the photos of us tubing down the river and were only left with a few of the swing photos.



Me after flying off the swing. The dog in the photo acted like a taxi driver for a day - he would go in after everyone that swung into the water and let you grab his tail while he hauled you in - I have know idea where he learned that trick.