Dancing in the street.

When we arrived at our hotel in Hanoi we asked if anything would be happening for New Year’s. A very friendly and helpful staff member (Martin was awesome) explained that since the Vietnamese celebrate Tet new year, nothing much would be happening this night.

We decided to head out anyways and I’m glad we did! A stage had been set up near the lake and a crowd of people had gathered to listen to traditional Vietnamese music. It was a little weird to see so many people standing still and expressionless while watching the performance.

Later on a hip hop performer and DJ came out to perform top 40 hits and that’s when the crowd got moving. For awhile I kept trying to figure out if the performer was someone famous. But then Mike pointed out he didn’t know how to use a microphone or the lyrics to many of the songs… so I’m guessing he was an amateur of sorts. (Although I did see Timbaland that one time and he wasn’t very good either.)

We counted down to midnight and fireworks exploded off the stage. It was so fun to be out in the streets dancing and wishing everyone “Happy New Year!” Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay out too much later because our flight was leaving very early the next morning.

And with the exception of novelty snacks and a few videos coming later, that’s the end of Vietnam blogging! Finally.

xo, jill

Cuc Phuong fail.

Mike had three things on his list that he was really looking forward to on this trip:
1. Surfing at China Beach… didn’t happen due to weather.
2. Riding motorbikes… finally achieved on Cat Ba.
3. Visit the rainforest… yet to happen.

We went to Ninh Binh as a jumping off point to enter Cuc Phuong National Park. We were finally getting to the rainforest! Ninh Binh doesn’t have too much to offer but our hotel room was nice and comfortable. Mike went out for a walk and captured a bit of the city.

Photo by Mike

What we found out when we got to Ninh Binh was that it wasn’t really the best way to access the park. We took an expensive taxi (about 45 minutes) to the park entrance. We weren’t dropped off in the proper spot so it took a bit of looking around to find the visitor center. Judging by the name of the place, you’d think they’d expect visitors… but no. The woman helping us seemed really confused as to why we were there. It was the opposite of welcoming.

After getting a route sorted we headed over to the Endangered Primate Rescue Center. This is what I was really looking forward to seeing. You are required to have a guide with you for your visit. No problem, I wanted to learn about their mission and progress. Um, unfortunately our guide only told us the names of the primates as he walked us down the path of cages. Then he took a phone call and abruptly stopped talking to us. It was awkward. We weren’t sure if we had offended him in some way. We passed by another group with a much more talkative and informative guide which made us even more confused. We eventually just walked right back out the gate because we didn’t know what to do. Our guide just trailed after us and eventually said, “Thank you.” Weird.

On our way back we stopped into the Visitor Center again to ask a question. That same woman seemed really surprised to see Mike again. She couldn’t believe that our trip to the rescue center had been so brief. We were baffled too.

Finally, we set off on a long and torturous bike ride. We needed to bike a total of 20km out to a giant tree and back. It didn’t take long for me to realize that this was not going to happen… at least without a good deal of pain. My bum was already sore from biking the day before, but this was something much worse. Without going into too much detail… the bike seat was pointing upwards and pushing against a very sensitive area. I was nearly in tears because it was so uncomfortable and on top of that I felt like a loser who couldn’t ride a bike. When Mike saw I was so upset he offered to switch bikes so we could continue our ride. Turns out I’m not just a wimp who can’t ride a bike. The bike seat was properly jacked up. Mike had a difficult time with the seat as well so we decided to turn around and inquire about a motorbike rental.

Again, the woman at the Visitor Center seemed surprised to see us (this time with reason). The motorbike price wasn’t reasonable so we decided to cut our losses and just head back to Hanoi. Of course, this involved another expensive taxi ride to a nearby bus station.

We bought our tickets from a stern faced woman and went in search of food. We took about two steps before the woman started screaming at us to sit down. Feeling confused and hating confrontation, I sat down immediately. Mike defied her orders and went after food anyway. About 5 minutes later he came running back, telling me to hustle because our bus is leaving. We raced across the street and jumped on the bus. Keep in mind we are the only tourists in this town and people are staring. Once we sit down the attendant checks our tickets and we are shooed off the bus. People are still staring. As we walk back the bus station Mike explains that he was walking down the street looking for food and a group of men started yelling “Hanoi!” and telling him to get on the bus. That would have been okay except our tickets were actually for the bus departing 20 minutes later.

So now we are back in the bus station and the woman’s scowl is that much deeper. We still need food so Mike steps next door to buy a few baguettes. At this point the proper bus comes and the woman wildly gestures me out the door. Now I’m hanging out of the bus yelling for Mike to come. He’s mid-transaction with an elderly woman for the baguettes. My advice is to “Leave the baguettes!” so he does which annoys the old lady. Then I realize the bus driver is ok to wait for Mike so I shout for him to get the baguettes after all. Poor Mike. He’s running back and forth at this point. Finally, he grabs the baguettes and makes it on the bus. We pull out of the station and come to a stop about 15 feet from the gate. We wait. And wait. Apparently, there wasn’t really a rush after all. After about 15 minutes we take off and Mike and I are so happy to get out of there we take a celebratory picture. Turns out, we only did a lap around the neighborhood and came right back to the same exact spot. We had more waiting to do.

The infamous baguettes.

Premature celebratory picture

Distance from where we originally caught the bus to where we stopped across the street.

Eventually we really do leave and head back to Hanoi accompanied by a Vietnamese comedy program playing at full blast. I turned my ipod as loud as possible but that didn’t do much to drown out the video. I was still able to catch Vietnamese “Love Potion #9” every time it played.

So Mike didn’t get much of a rainforest experience on this trip but I think he was just as happy as I was to get out of there.

xo, jill

And Day 3.

After eating lunch on the boat we had our second opportunity to kayak. This time it was just us and the guide. We (mostly Mike) paddled out to a nice private beach. If only the weather was warmer! It would have been a nice place to for swimming and sun bathing.

Haha, Mike’s face.

In the late afternoon we reached Cat Ba Island, our home for the evening. We checked into our hotel (which we later noticed had a funny name) and had the rest of the evening free.

Mike had been eager to rent a motorbike on this trip and we finally had the chance. We found a man nearby our hotel and set off on the bike. We cruised around the main streets and a bit outside the city until darkness and chilly weather forced us to stop.

The next day, (Day 3), we ate breakfast at the hotel and noticed something funny at the bar. Apparently, this concoction of lizards, testicles, and various other disgusting things is consumed by elderly men to improve their virility. Good luck.

At this point we boarded the boat, cruised back to the mainland, and hopped in the van headed toward Hanoi.

xo, jill