A good (if too exciting) tour
Trip Start
Dec 18, 2011
1
28
38
Trip End
Feb 29, 2012
Hanoi, Vietnam
Saturday, February 4, 2012
We booked a trip to Hoa Lu (site of the capital of the first unified Vietnamese state) and the Tam Coc river gorge. Even though it meant a much earlier wake-up than we prefer, especially after an all-night bus trip the day before, I’m glad we decided to explore a bit outside of Hanoi.
Our guide, Cherry (Tham), arrived at our hotel lobby chipper and cute in a red tunic coat that was easy to spot in a crowd. We were joined in the minivan by a family from Saigon, three women from Malaysia and two Thai women, one of whom works in the Thai embassy in Hanoi. We all got along famously.
First, we stopped at the slightly Disneyfied Hoa Lu temple, learning a bit of ancient Vietnam history and culture in the process .
After a buffet lunch at Tam Coc, the group split up into smaller groups for the boat trip up the river. Nancy and I boarded a flat-bottom metal boat with a blunt front and back operated by a young woman and then by her and her brother.
Imagine those photos of rivers in China with jagged rock spires jutting from green flatlands, and you get some idea of the scenery along the river. Throw in a couple of caves that the river runs through, and you get a better picture. Add a house or grave monument here and there below solid rock faces, and you have it.
There were, of course, the hawkers and touts. First there were the photographers who took our photo (to sell prints of at the end of the trip) whether we wanted to or not. (We didn’t want.) At the spot where we turned around to return to the landing, there were even more hawkers in boats who pulled up alongside to flog their useless junk. Finally, on the way back, our young oarswoman turned merchant and tried to sell us more tat. Nancy kindly offered to give her a tip instead, but she turned down what was offered as too small to be bothered with.
We were back in the minivan headed back to Hanoi when the day took an unexpectedly exciting turn. As our increasingly aggressive driver was attempting to pass a huge truck, the truck clipped the wing mirror on the passenger side. Angry words between the drivers of the two vehicles, police involvement and upset tour customers ensued.
But we arrived back at our respective hotels unhurt. I can’t say it was a dull tour.
In the evening, after a long and futile search for a recommended restaurant, we found ourselves at the Lonely-Planet-recommended Ladybird Restaurant (57 Hang Buon) and had an excellent Vietnamese/Western meal of green papaya and beef salad, roasted duck in red wine sauce, stir-fried chicken and drinks to calm our nerves. We also had an interesting conversation with the woman owner about economic conditions in Vietnam and how they are affecting the restaurant.
