Ha Long Bay

Judy. If you go to Vietnam, and you should, you must take three days to visit Ha Long Bay. True, there will be far too many little ships sailing around the myriad islands, but there’s a reason it’s a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is truly breathtaking. On the advice of our friend Sonya, we took a three-day, two-night voyage, with the second day a boat to Lan Ha Bay, a much less popular area, with kayaking, swimming, and cave exploration available. 

Sailing into Ha Long Bay

There are, of course, geological explanations for these karsts and islands, but the mythological story is much better. Ha Long means “Descending Dragon”. In the early history of Vietnam, the people were fighting off invaders, so a dragon fell into the bay to protect it. The dragon breathed out jade and gems, which became the islands and rocks in the bay, which confounded the invaders. Then, the dragon was so comfortable living in peace that he decided to stay. 

Dragon's "gems"

We were on a beautiful refurbished wooden ship, The Indochine Legend, reminiscent of every ‘30’s whodoneit you’ve ever read. The crew was outstanding. On the second day, for our trip to Lan Ha Bay, we were transferred for the day to a smaller ship, then returned to the Legend that evening.

I'll let the pictures speak:

Indochine Legend

Tet

Ted. Most of East Asia celebrates the beginning of the new year as determined by a traditional Chinese calendar. This year, it falls on February 17. In Vietnamese, the holiday is called Tet Nguyen Dan, but everyone simply says Tet. 

 

As near as I can tell, Tet is sort of like Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Day and the Day of the Dead all rolled into two weeks of preparations and three days of celebrations. 

When we made our travel plans for this trip, we were completely unaware that we would be in Vietnam for the festival. Not only that, we were actually flying from Da Nang (the airport close to Hoi An) to Hanoi on February 17. 

So, we witnessed most of the preparation work while we were in Hoi An and now we are observing the celebrations in Hanoi. 

During much of this time, a good many businesses and government offices operate with reduced staff and hours or just close all together. Schools are closed all of this week and it is tough to find a restaurant, grocery store or shop that is open. Those that are open typically charge a 15% or so premium price. 

The focus for the Vietnamese people is on ancestor veneration, relaxation, family reunions and visits with friends. 

The first thing we noticed two weeks ago in Hoi An was the smoke. We ended up closing the windows in our hotel room at night and turning on the air conditioning at night. What was the source? As we walked the streets, we saw tiny piles of ashes in front of all of the homes and shops. 

The Vietnamese believe that their ancestors have the same needs and desires that they have. If the living want new clothes, so do the ancestors. How can one help one’s ancestors to be more comfortable? By buying and then burning clothes, food and money for them. But the gifts aren’t real, they are paper effigies. Yes, you can buy fake money, clothes and food made of paper. If you really love your ancestors, you do it every day leading up to Tet. 

The other thing we saw was lots of cleaning, cooking and decorating with flowers. Huge amounts of special holiday foods are prepared or purchased for days in advance because family and friends will be visiting every day. 

Before and after the actual day of Tet, there is a lot of celebration which includes feasting with friends and family and visiting temples and pagodas to ask for blessings and fortunes. 

In Hoi An and Hue during the preceding days, and now in Hanoi, we have seen hundreds of ladies dressed up and posing for photos with flowers, especially peach blossoms, which are symbols of fertility. 

Children look forward to Tet because their elders hand out red (the lucky color) envelopes stuffed with lucky money. Since school is out the kids often race to toy shops that remain open to assist them in spending their lucky money. 

These people work very hard for 51 weeks of the year with precious little time off and poor wages. It is wonderful to see how happy everyone is now. They all look for signs of good luck (like a little rain on the first day of the new year) and pray they will have good luck in the future. They seem very fatalistic and seem to believe that their futures are not in their control - something that is a little alien to me. So I just tell folks I wish that all of their dreams come true and say “Chuc mung nam moi!” (Happy New Year!).

Hoi An

Judy. When looking at our options for cities to visit in Vietnam, Ted almost immediately settled on Hoi An. In the middle of the country, it’s now considered a suburb of Da Nang—and the two could not be any different. Da Nang is a big, modern city, sort of the Miami of Vietnam. Hoi An, just south, while a major tourist destination, is a bustling, crowded, older version, with little of the “modern” about it. 

City Market

Fruit vendor plies his wares

We’re just outside of the “Ancient City,” recognized as a UNESCO Heritage Site, in a quiet part of town. To the east is the South China Sea, or as it’s known here, the “Eastern Sea,” leaving China out of it. This is interesting, because China is a big part of its history. 

Hoi An was a trading port for centuries, until the river silted up and boats couldn’t get through. It’s still known, though, for textiles and ceramics, and the Ancient City is filled with shops ready to sell you any of these. The influence of neighboring cultures is everywhere. There are temples and Chinese assembly halls all over. In fact, an early name for the city was Faifo. One night we stumbled on an outdoor performance of opera that sounded and looked to me like Chinese opera. 

What a surprise to find this opera in an open courtyard!

One of many Chinese shrines

The symbol of the city is the Japanese Bridge, a beautiful covered bridge that, after several restorations, doesn’t have much of the Japanese about it. The influence of Hoi An’s early trade history is everywhere. 

Japanese covered bridge

The river plays an important role here, though, for fishing and for tourism. One of the big draws is a ride in a basket boat, a round, woven boat that’s somehow waterproof. I don’t know if they’re still used regularly, but several spots along the river or estuaries offer rides. We took one, and it was great fun. 

Basket boats waiting

Our crazy captain and two crazy Americans

On every full moon night, the town celebrates the Lunar Lantern Festival. Boats covered in lanterns carry tourists up and down the river, and the street lights are turned off for a warm glow from the lanterns. It’s truly lovely, and, if you wander a couple of streets away from the river, it’s quiet and charming. 

Lantern boats take tourists up and down the river

Lunar Lantern Festival

Young people in traditional dress for the Tet season

Right now, like most of Asia, Hoi An is preparing for Tet. While Buddhism is nominally important here (massive statues of Kwan Yin can be found in Da Nang and the mountains), ancestor worship is the norm. Tet (Lunar New Year) is a time to celebrate family members both living and dead. Every day we pass altars of food and gifts which are burned at night so they reach those who’ve died, usually for the dead who have no descendants. Family offerings of paper food, jewelery, money, clothes, etc. are made on the first day of Tet (this year, 17th of Feb.), and are burned to reach the ancestors on the fourth day. It’s somewhat reminiscent of Mexico’s Day of the Dead. Flowers and red banners and pompoms decorate houses and businesses. 

Burning the gifts so they reach the ancestors

Candy and rice left out for ancestors

Red ribbons for Tet. Red and yellow are lucky colors.

Maison Fleur dressed up for Tet

The other day we went to a restaurant we had eaten in before, Yen Pa Pa, only to be told by Tuey, the owner, that they were closed for the afternoon to have a family and friend celebration. As we thanked her and turned to leave, she ran after us, “You like curry? Come and join us!” She wouldn’t take no for an answer, and that’s how we wound up sitting with her, her husband, and her five brothers-in-law, drinking beer and eating whatever she put in our bowls. “It’s a time for family and friends,” she insisted, and we felt as though we’d been part of this family forever. Today we went back for lunch and took some special Tet candy as a thank you. Of course, we left with a bag of ginger candy she gave us in return.

Tuey (far right) and her family invited us for their family's celebration

We’ve quite fallen in love with this city. We don’t often go to the Ancient City, only to buy souvenir lanterns or to see the Lunar Festival, or, on our first day, to visit the sights Lonely Planet insisted we see. They were grand, and we got a kick out of buying souvenirs at the post office. We went to the most popular banh mi restaurant, and enjoyed it, but found the street seller’s sandwiches in our own neighborhood to be just as tasty. 

Madam Khanh's restaurant, supposedly Hoi An's most famous banh my

As we do in older European cities, we like wandering the alleys and back streets rather than the busy main roads, although we have to avoid bicycles and motor scooters anyway. We’ve figured out how to navigate the smaller streets to get to the convenience store and the ATM. Besides, walking along the dikes and alleys, we see all the flower farms, which gives Hoi An its nickname of “flower city.” And now we see bicycle and motor scooter trailers full of plants headed off to Da Nang and other cities. 

One of hundreds of flower farms

We once tried walking to the beach. The first half was beautiful, though rice paddies, but the second half, on a main road, was a bit dodgy. We prefer taking Grab. Our beach choice is Seascape, which has some sort of deal with our hotel. It’s got a great restaurant, with open covered seating, where Ted reads his book while I go to the beach and their sunbeds. We each enjoy the scenery and our beverage of choice, then I head up to sit with him and eat lunch. One day it was grilled scallops and calamari, another, spring rolls and fried shrimp. 

Cham Islands to the southeast

Da Nang to the north

And lunch in front of me!

There are so many flower and vegetable gardens around us that we almost skipped the Tra Que Vegetable Village, but, with an open day, decided to walk there, and are so glad we did! Acres and acres are filled with neat rows of veggies, herbs, and flowers, and there are numerous cafes and cooking schools. We met a couple while walking there, and the woman said, “I want to pick all of this up and put it in my yard!” There were even a couple of Chinese tombs in the fields, and a temple nearby, which added to the charm. 

Acres and acres of vegetable, herb, and flower gardens

We couldn’t help but notice all the Vietnamese flags and banners and signs with the image of Ho Chi Minh, and wondered if this was an everyday sight. We were told that shortly the country will celebrate the 16th anniversary of its first free election. Between Tet preparations and anniversary celebrations, the town is covered in decorations. 

Tet and election celebrations

It’s a city in transition. Beautiful new houses sit next to shacks. A fancy tourist restaurant sits next to a street food cart. It’s all a part of this city—maybe this country. Everyone smiles and responds to xin chau, or shows off their English by saying “hello” first. We feel welcome here. And I’m so glad we came.

My Son Sanctuary

Ted. As we travel, Judy and I are constantly reminded of our ignorance of world civilizations. In 2017, while in Cambodia, we visited the temple complex called Ankor Wat in the ancient Khmer city of Ankor. We were stunned that such a vast power could have ever been defeated in battle.

Living in Hoi An, Vietnam, we are now in an area that was once part the kingdom of Champa, the power that had crushed the Khmer in 1177 and sacked their capital. 

Beginning in the 4th century, in a valley just 20 miles from modern day Hoi An, the Champa people were growing in power and began to erect temples and shrines to their Hindu gods as well as tombs for their godlike kings. 

Like the Khmer, the Champa were great traders. In addition to goods, they also imported ideas, technologies and religions from their neighbors in present day China and India. 

Just like all other empires, in the 15th century, the Champa kingdom slowly collapsed after losing a war with the Viet kingdom to the north. Their buildings were ultimately abandoned and reclaimed by the forest only to be rediscovered by French archaeologists in the late 19th century.

Now called My Son Sanctuary, this collection of over 70 structures is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We were saddened to learn that these ancient structures suffered a lot of damage from bombs dropped during the war but restoration is underway, funded by grants from Poland, Italy and other countries. Surprisingly, the restorers have been unable to figure out the composition of the bricks that were used a thousand years ago. The old bricks have retained their reddish hue over the centuries but the new bricks quickly get covered mold, turning them black. 

Here are a few snapshots of buildings and carvings we saw at the sanctuary.

As usual, I refer you to the internet for further study. I will also suggest streaming “Ankor: Hidden Jungle Empire,” an episode of the PBS series called Nova. 

So, whatever happened to the Champa people? They are still around. In the extreme southern part of Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia one can find a distinct ethnic minority now called the Chams. They have retained elements of the original culture and language but are now practicing Muslims.