Monday, November 4 - Hanoi, Ninh Binh Province

Our driver and our guide, Hio, met picked us up at the hotel this morning for our day in the countryside outside Hanoi.  The morning traffic was chaotic, and it was hard to decide whether to look at what our driver was dealing with or focus our attention on other sights as we rode out beyond the city and its suburbs.  It took more than two hours to travel the 60 miles to our destination over roads that ranged from congested city streets to limited access highways and a barely passable road under construction.  Construction and re-construction were definitely the order of the day everywhere we traveled and the projects ranged from modern high rises to buildings destroyed during the war.  Cement dust was heavy in the air in some places, exacerbating poor air quality generally.  Many people in the city and beyond wear neckerchiefs or face masks to cover their noses and mouths.  Like helmets, the face masks are, for some, a fashion accessory; they come in a variety of colors and patterns.

Our journey today was through rural agricultural areas to mountainous countryside.  The Hoa Lu temples are surrounded by rocky mountains at the site of the original Vietnamese dynasties, established after independence from China in the tenth century, and they were built to honor the country's first two kings.  We were struck by the offerings left by visitors there; in addition to traditional flowers and incense, they included cans of Coke, bottled water, wine, and packaged cakes!  

Then, it was on to Tam Coc, riding on back roads through small villages.   This seemingly remote area is highly touristed and, after lunch, we joined a parade of scores of sampans (aluminum, not bamboo) to for a two-hour trip that took us through three large caves.  Did I mention that the sampans were rowed by boatmen/women USING THEIR FEET?!?  The scenery was spectacular, with mountains resembling those in Guilin, China.  Along the way, we passed fishermen/women, riverside cemeteries and memorial shrines, isolated homes and temples.  One fisherman had a special catch in his floating cooler: a bamboo bong from which our boatman took a hit of some unidentified substance!  On this placid river trip, we made for a captive audience when our boatman pulled out his selection of souvenirs.  While we were prepared to buy something, he was a persistent salesman, intent on getting us to purchase more than we wanted and/or pay more than we'd planned.  If LBJ and Robert McNamara had taken a trip with him, we'd never have gone to war; it would have been patently obvious that our chances of winning were nil!

Back on shore, we met our guide and driver and headed back to Hanoi, getting a good taste of the evening rush hour -- no regard for lanes, traffic lights, or pedestrians.  It also seems that the locals haven't had to choose whether to drive on the right- or the left-hand side of the road; they do both, as well as on the diagonal!

We walked to a small restaurant down a narrow street nearby and had a great, unbelievably cheap, dinner.  Then, a short walk through the lively neighborhood, and back to the hotel.