Vietnam | Our Adventures

This is my third and final year in Malaysia. Heidi has returned home to be closer to family and is now the Elementary Principal in Chelan, Washington. We are calling her Principal Busk, 2.0…a new and improved model over Principal Busk, 1.0 (me).

For both of us, this will be a most trying year. We are not used to being apart and it has proven to be a lot harder than we thought (at least harder than I thought…Heidi knew all along) We have Facetime and SKYPE, messaging and e-mail. I have an International Calling Plan so I can call home without the horrific charges. We have Magic Jack where we can call for free. I will be coming home in October and December and Heidi is set to come here in April…but some long stretches in between. But when we start feeling sorry for ourselves, we think of all the service men and women who are away for much longer stretches and often placed in harms way. In comparison, our separation is a walk in the park.

I debated long and hard whether or not to continue the blog, but have decided to continue on. I love documenting our (my) time here and it is just fun to write….. So….here goes.

VISITOR
The first visitor in year three was Kelly Kurz. Kelly was backpacking through SE Asia before heading home to the USA and then back to Africa. As usual, it was fun to show someone around, but Kelly was pretty independent and a seasoned traveler and didn’t need much guidance. The Kuala Lumpur Grand Prix was in town…cars racing through the streets of Kuala Lumpur..Ear plug noisy they careened through the streets at break-neck speeds with stick-like-glue cornering…amazing driving!!! Fun to watch!!!

: Vrrooom, vroom, vroom

: So fast it was a blur

: Kelly at the towers

: They also had a Ferrari and Lamborghini races.

: Watching the races

EATING LOCAL
Went to eat breakfast at a local Dim Sum spot. Dim Sum is a style of Cantonese cuisine prepared as small bite-sized portions of food. A bunch of us from school went to this out of the way spot….wall to wall with local Chinese Malays all hungering for the famous Dim Sum. The servers come to your table with these huge platters of food…each platter different from the one before. You take your chopsticks and grab what you want. I didn’t know what I was ordering..that was part of the fun. I had some pork, some octopus, some vegetable, and the rest I just ate blind. Some delicious, some hard to swallow. It was an experience!!!

: I could not even guess what half the food was.

: Ordering.

: Your guess is as good as mine.

: They used the scissors to cut each serving into smaller pieces.

: Not sure, but it was good.

: Finished!!!

: The steamers.

: Pulling out another platter!!

BACK TO HOI AN
I had a three day weekend so I zipped up to Vietnam and the historic town of Hoi An. This is by far my favorite city and Vietnam is my favorite country. Had to pick up some more lanterns and a few odds and ends. Mainly went to just veg on the beach, a chance to get away from Kuala Lumpur. Road a bike out to An Bang Beach…almost empty. The water crystal clear and warm, the sand soft. An Bang is at the southern end of what was known as China Beach during the war. You could close your eyes and picture the beach swarming with GIs relaxing during a short R&R, a chance to escape from the horrors of war.
Got to watch two fishermen. They used this funny little round coracle to let out about a quarter mile of net. The coracle looks like a ball cut in half. The fisherman used only one oar and feathered it one way or the other to move the coracle through the water. The other fisherman stood on shore with the other end of the net. When all the net was let out, the coracle came to shore a little ways up the beach making a huge arch. Then both fishermen started pulling in the net, making the arch smaller and smaller. Once most of the net was pulled in, both fishermen walked in the area where the fish were trapped and caught the fish by hand. The strangest thing. I thought they would have just pulled the net up on shore and then harvested the fish, but no, they caught them by hand. The whole process took about an hour and a half and they pulled out about 40 fish. They told me their family will have fresh fish for awhile.

: Pulling in the net.

: Pulling in the ned from the coracle.

: Inside the coracle.

: caught the needle fish by hand.

: hamming it up for me!!!

: took forever to get the fish out of the netting.

: part of the harvest.

: Another coracle

: A coracle with a crab/fish trap.

Assorted pictures of Hoi An

: Lotus Blossom drink for sale…very popular.

: Little stools everywhere to sit…just pull up a stool !!!

: The old Japanese Bridge.

: Pretty as a picture.

: A wedding photo shoot.

: Lazing down the river

: Could not figure out the way this game was played..they were serious players.

: Domino game…lots of men sitting around playing games, gambling, having a good time.

: Doughnuts for sale.

: Fresh fruit for sale

: On the river…waiting to give rides to tourists.

: Simple arrangement.

: Easy way to carry things.

: Lots of Japanese in town…love those kimonos

: water buffalo cooling off.

: This is how I cooled off!!!

: The road less traveled

: My spot on the beach…almost empty.

: Nice and quiet, peaceful.

: All to myself!!!

: “China Beach” our of Da Nang

: fishing on the river.

: A Vietnamese scarecrow.

: My new friend.

: Beautiful Lily pads

In a couple of weeks I’m heading up to Cameron Highlands…about a four hour drive and home to large tea plantations and strawberry farms. In October I’ll be going “Down Under” to Melbourne, Australia and December I’m heading to Chiang Mai, Thailand. Not quite the same without Heidi, but someone has to do it!!!

Vietnam….everyone tells us Vietnam is the place to go…for friendly people, for delicious cruisine and coffee, for culture, for amazing sites….go to Vietnam.

So Saturday at 3:00 am in the morning we pile into the taxi and off to KLIA 2 to catch the 6:10 am Air Asia flight to Hanoi. Nanci and Gregg, Jamie, Heidi and myself settled into seats 1 B,C,D,E,& F respectively and jet to Hanoi. Now prior to the trip I obtained on-line VISA’s for our stay. You complete a mess of paperwork, submit, and then you receive your applications for entry and exit to Vietnam. You have to affix a special size photo to each form. Our photographer must have used a carnival lens for all our photos were hideous. Heidi NEVER wanted to see hers again. You then take these forms with you, along with the official acceptance letter to the VISA upon-arrival desk in the Hanoi Airport, along with your $45.00 USD per person. Guess who forgot the letter? Yep…but we put on a sad face and they took pity upon us, told us to sit down and wait while they processes everything. About 10 minutes later we hear Heidi’s name called over the loud speaker and there on a big screen TV is her “beautiful” photo…you know, the one she never wanted to see again!!!! Not only did she get to see it again but so did the entire waiting room full of people. We paid our fees, collected our passports and went through the passport check…..we are now in Vietnam!!!!

The airport is brand spanking new…just beautiful. We loaded everything into a nice van and off we tooled to the Hanoi Sofitel Metropole Legend…the nicest hotel in Hanoi.

The morning was cool and rather foggy…a welcome relief from the heat of KL. Along the median of the highway were scores of workers weeding the gardens all by hand, all of them wearing the famous Vietnamese conical hats. As we entered the city we are surrounded by motor scooters…everywhere were motor scooters. Hanoi has a population of approximately 6.5 million, Vietnam about 89 million and there are almost 40 million scooters!!!! Another thing you notice, NO STOP SIGNS!!! Absolutely NO stop signs. You come to an intersection and everyone just takes turns and somehow it all works out. There is a constant beep, beep, beep as people in cars want the scooters to move over, or the scooters want the bicycle riders to move over or the bicycle riders want the walkers to move over. AMAZING. What was even more amazing than watching the traffic was trying to cross the streets on foot. We were told, “Find a little opening (as in a space between cars) and then just start walking”. The cycles all just weave around you, you stop for a car, you walk again and before you know it you are on the other side. It actually became fun. Jamie was a natural !!! Heidi needed a little hand holding but soon became a seasoned street walker. (not that kind!!!!)

The Sofitel Metropole Legend
Oh what a hotel !!! Opened in 1901 it has be the chosen hotel for Kings, Presidents, entertainers and sports stars visiting Hanoi….John Denver, Bill Clinton, Brad Pitt and Angeline Jolie, Stephen Hawkins, Joan Baez, Jane Fonda and the list goes on and on and on. The rooms are exquisite, the service over the top!!!! We were soooo pampered. We really didn’t want to leave. See here for their website: http://www.sofitel-legend.com/hanoi/en/

: The pool.

: Hibiscus lemon tea and Cumquat Lemon Tea…a nice welcome drink. So good.

: Sign on the bomb shelter, a tour we didn’t have time for but would have loved to have taken.

: Lounges by the pool

: The old rooms with the green shutters.

: Lobby decoration

: Picture of Joan Baez during a more controversial time.

: Painting done by Joan Baez during one of her later stays.

: Little seating areas all about

: Working old time phones.

: The room…lovely bed!!

: The tub and shower…best shower head ever.

: The hallways

: Looking down the stairwell

: The courtyard

: Bouquet in the lobby.

: The exterior

: In the morning, badmitton nets are set up on sidewalks around the city. Markings are painted on the sidewalk, people just bring their nets, racquets and shuttlecocks.

: The motorscooter traffice

Hanoi
Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, is in a constant contradictory state. Its tree-lined streets hold a blend of colonial French architecture and traditional Vietnamese buildings mixed with modern and chic. The town has a charming chaos to everything, yet at the same time there is an element of grace and elegance. The streets are packed with people, the sidewalks extensions to the business and home, the streets alive with vehicles. The people extroverted and friendly.

We spent the day trying to get lost in the Old Quarters. This maze-like neighborhood is organized by product. One street may specialize by selling only bamboo ladders…all the shops on the street sell ladders. Turn the corner and the next street everyone sells tombstones. Another street; women make-up and perfume. Another; rope or tin works or flowers. You never know what is around the next corner. The only thing you can be sure of is you will be surprised.

Most of the shops keep their doors open and everyone spills out onto the sidewalk. People pull up little plastic stools, they eat their lunches and dinners, they babysit their kids. They practice their English with you. At night, the sidewalks and parks are the place to be. We saw break dancing, badmitton, hacky sack sharing, families walking about, people playing cards, drinking beer, roller blading. The streets are the meeting place, the living room for the masses.

No where and at no time did we ever feel any ill-will toward us as Americans. We were welcomed and treated with the utmost respect. As you saw on the old bomb shelter, the words: REMEMBER FORGIVE FOREVER echo the feelings of the majority. Like most Asian countries, the Vietnamese would rather look forward and not dwell on the past. You must remember there are different perspectives to any event. Here in Vietnam, the Vietnam War is known as “The American War”. One person we talked to said they of course remember as there are still many innocent people who suffered the effects of Agent Orange and the brutalities only war can bring. But that chapter is closed in their book. They have forgiven. They have moved on. They look toward brighter days.

Everywhere we went there were brides and grooms getting their pictures taken. We must have seen 75 different photo shoots around the city, and this isn’t even the “wedding season”. They seem to have a lot of fun finding unique and interesting locales for their photos.

The food…OMG, the food is amazing. Jamie and I grabbed a bowl of noodle soup. This sweet woman made up our bowl in a matter of seconds….freshly made noodles, hot broth, beef, egg and vegetables. We sat on the little red plastic stools and perfected our chop stick skills!!!!

We all loved Hanoi. Gregg and Nanci are wonderful travel companions. They are fearless, flexible, willing to go with the flow, and open to the wonders of travel. It was so much fun having them with us to share this new experience.