feldmanlarry

When I got off the overnight train from Lao Cai in northern Vietnam to Hanoi, I was surprised to see my Apple Watch said I had exercised more than half of my day’s goal. All I had done since midnight was sleep. Of course, the train shook so hard that I was being pushed around, which made my watch mistake it for exercise. All I need to do now is ride two trains a day and I won’t need to exercise at all.

It was easier to sleep on the way back since I was more used to the train but the 4:45 wakeup for the 5:20 arrival came as a big shock to my system. I had maybe 5 hours of sleep and had a busy day coming up. A guide was at the train station to take me to downtown Hanoi for a couple of hours then off to the Hanoi Airport.

The first stop in Hanoi was to see the morning exercise. There were three large groups — the mostly elderly Tai Chi people, the young women doing aggressive aerobics, and the old but not quite as elderly people dancing like they were at a US wedding. Somehow I couldn’t resist joining in just like when I saw the Pope at the Vatican I joined a group of Polish people doing a circle dance.

This was before 6 AM. I’m sure this is the most exercising I’ve done before 6 AM if not in my life at least in decades.

We then went to the wholesale fruit and vegetable market. Market people buy their goods here very early and then take them to their own markets. This was definitely not like the market in northern Vietnam from yesterday. That one was slow paced with time for people to socialize and meet old friends. This market was fast paced with motorcycles, women moving incredibly heavy loads, and aggressive buying and selling.

I liked these fruit carved as Buddhas.

For breakfast I had Pho, Vietnamese noodle soup with chicken and vegetables that you eat with chopsticks and a spoon. It seems to be typical in Asia to have the same food for breakfast as for any other meal. I stick to Vietnamese food all the time except breakfast. I still like eggs, bread, yogurt, and breakfast meats. Vietnam doesn’t have its own cheese or milk.

I believe that in foods and in life, every so often you should try things that you’ve decided you don’t like. You may surprise yourself. Usually not but it’s fun to try.

The flight to Danang was short. Our first stop was the Cham Museum with beautiful sculptures from nearly 1000 years ago. the Cham brought Hinduism to Vietnam. 80% of Vietnamese are now Buddhists, most of the rest are Catholic and Hinduism has for the most part disappeared.

This statue represents the intelligence of the elephant on the top with the strength of the lion on the bottom. Next to that in this picture is someone with the intelligence of a donkey and the body of Buddha.

Danang had probably the most famous air base in Vietnam. It’s also where the French landed their invasion ships in the 1880’s. Here are storage areas from the American base that are still standing.

The Danang area was also famous for “China Beach,” the recreation area for US troops made famous by a popular TV show. It was rainy and cold (70 degrees is cold) so all I could do was pretend to swim.

I remember a friend of mine telling me how awful Venice was. He said it was extremely hot, people he met weren’t friendly, and the food wasn’t good (or something like that). It brought home the lesson to me that people’s impressions of places and maybe of anything else may be based on quirky events. He might have come back another time and had the opposite random events happen to him and he would have talked about how wonderful Venice is. The essence of Venice is less important than the random events that happen to you that day.

Something similar happened to me in our next stop, Hoi An. How An is a beautiful ancient preserved town with a mix of Japanese, French, Chinese, and Indian architecture. The main pedestrian area is filled with historical buildings that normally would be something I would love. (By the way, when they say “pedestrian” in Vietnam they include motorbikes that are weaving in and out all around you).

Today it was hard to appreciate Hoi An. Later on, I listened to the BBC talk about the monsoon that hit the central coast of Vietnam. I can attest to that. The winds and rain were heavy. My rain jacket, jeans, socks and shoes were soaked by the end of the day. An umbrella would have helped a little but not much.

I’m looking wet at the “Japanese Covered Bridge, constructed in the 1590s by the town’s Japanese community to link them with the Chinese quarters across the stream” (from my itinerary).

I really enjoyed this mansion with a store in the front and living quarters in the back. It was a center of activity in support of the Ho Chi Minh forces against the French, Japanese, and American forces. The patriarch of the house is behind Ho Chi Minh in the picture.

We had lunch at the Banh My Phoung restaurant Anthony Bourdain recommended (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUMlwNHNXp0). The French baguette is very crispy and fresh, then they put lots of stuff inside including mayonnaise and their own sauces.  I had the number 9 with pork, ham, and pate, which was one of the two he supposedly recommended the most.

The guide warned me that there might be a possibility of flooding in the area my hotel was in. They could evacuate us to another hotel at higher ground. Fortunately that didn’t happen.

One of the advantages to having a private guide is the lack of drama for mundane tasks like finding the hotel, getting from the airport, and so on. Today there was drama getting to the hotel. They started to get me checked in when they realized they had the wrong hotel. They drove around for a while and seemed to not know where it was. I looked up my itinerary and gave them the address, which was 40 on some street. We found the street and went from 10 to 20 to 48 but no 40. I used google maps and showed them that 40 came after 48 for some unknown reason.

The room seemed great and I laid my clothes out to dry and was about to jump in the shower when I saw significant water leaking from the air conditioner. I put on a robe and called the front desk. They came and after about 20 minutes were starting to redo some of the wiring so I called for a new room. I was in my bathrobe carrying soaked clothes with the help of staff to another floor.

Around 5:30 PM I took a nap and woke up around 4 AM. I had skipped dinner but felt great. I was refreshed and ready for another intense day.

I could say I didn’t like Hoi An because of the weather and problems with the hotel but I won’t. Hoi An is a beautiful place and in other conditions I would have loved it.

The minor adversities today reminded me of how spoiled I am that things like this don’t happen more often. I’m spending a lot of money to travel as drama-free as possible. I feel wimpy sometimes but I can live with it. Most people my age are not out doing this kind of travel at all.