Vietnam: Part 4

Dear Reader:  Because we are returning to Kona in a few days, we will upload images for this post after we return on May 2, 2012.


Prepared April 16 and 19, 2012, the Gulf of Oman and Red Sea en route, Safaga, Egypt


March 23 and 24,  2012, Sapa, Lao Cai, and Hanoi, Vietnam:  The Night Train to Hanoi

Having recovered from our day's touring with a nap and tea, we, well mostly E, packed our bags, and at 6:00pm we checked out of the Victoria Sapa Resort and Spa, collected our box lunch (or would it be dinner?), climbed back into the SUV, and started down the mountain road to Lao Cai.  We were headed for the Lao Cai Train Station to take the "Victoria Express" along the Red River valley to Hanoi.  By the time we neared Lao Cai, darkness had fallen, but the route was the same that we had traveled the day before.  Arriving in Lao Cai at about 7:00pm, we were taken to what appeared to be a very inactive, local hotel and were seated in the lobby.  The hotel bordered the same plaza where the Lao Cai Train Station is located.

The reason for the visit to the hotel lobby was that Lao Cai Station did not open for passenger boarding until 8:30pm, and for the Victoria Express train at 9:00pm.  On the 207mi (333km) route between Lao Cai and Hanoi, passenger trains (at least express trains) seem to run only at night, leaving Lao Cai and Hanoi in the evening and arriving at the opposite end of the route in the early morning (~5:00am).  Also, the Victoria Express is not like the E&O Bangkok-to-Singapore train, but two private cars, which are attached to the 9:30pm Vietnam National Railways (VNR) express train to Hanoi.

So, we sat in the abandoned, marble lobby of a spookily quiet Lao Cai hotel, and with our guide, Thuan, shared our excellent box lunch -- ham and cheese sandwiches, fruit, pastries, etc.  Finally, at 9:00pm sharp, the Station gates opened, and we boarded the Victoria Express car for the trip to Hanoi.  The Victoria Express special rail car was, in fact, not that special.  It was a standard VNR sleeper car that had been renovated, repainted, and a fancy bathroom added outside our compartment by removing an end unit.  Nice, but not the E&O.  Our compartment was intended to sleep four with two pull-down bunk beds, but A&K, our travel agent, had booked an entire compartment for the two of us.  (No bunk beds, thank you, A&K!)

By the time we boarded, our side-by-side lower bunk beds were already made up.  Since we did not want to go to bed immediately, we sat on the edge of the beds and played cards, Spite and Malice, which E won (as usual).  The train departed exactly on schedule, and after we moved out of the Station and into the darkness, there was nothing to see from the compartment window except the occasional light.  After giving up on cards, we decided to go to bed; it is fortunate that neither J or E are over 5'6" tall, because anyone taller would have had a difficult time fitting into the bed.  As long as you were shortish, they were comfortable!

The 7 hour 40 minute trip to Hanoi (~27mph) was smooth, and there were a minimum of stops.  At 4:30am, the car steward  woke us with coffee (Nestle Instant).  We arrived on time at 5:10am at the Hanoi Railways Station on Le Duan Street.  Thuan was there to meet us when we stepped down from the train with our luggage; he had been on the train in another car.  Originally, we were scheduled to go for a pho (noodle) breakfast at a local restaurant, but by mutual consent, we agreed to have the car take us to the Metropole Hotel, where we checked in and had breakfast in the Club Lounge.  (Enough ethnic is enough, sometimes.)   We had survived the night train to Hanoi with very little wear except for a lack of sleep.

March 24 and 25, 2012, Hanoi, Vietnam:  Hanoi Revisited

Finishing our early light breakfast at about 6:00am, we were escorted to our room and shown its amenities, of which there are too many to mention.  Then, it was a hot shower, and a long morning nap to make up for the sleep that was lost on the train.  When we finally awoke and got organized, we went down to the Club Lounge for a second breakfast.  Yes, a second breakfast!

Since J and E had lived on-and-off in Hanoi from 1997 to 1999, we decided to just do a walking tour of part of the old city near the Hotel Metropole, and visit two museums, the Museum of Vietnamese Revolution and the National Museum of Vietnamese History.  After a couple of false starts (J's directional sense failing completely), we found the museums, which were located only a block or two from the hotel.  Getting lost is a good way to turn a short walk into a longer walk.

The Museum of Vietnamese Revolution is located in a restored, French-built government office building.  It contains 29 separate exhibition halls displaying artifacts of the Vietnamese uprisings against French colonialism, the wars of independence and reunification against the French and Americans, and the nation-building efforts since 1975.  Materials displayed are a small portion of the collection which is, in effect, the Vietnamese national archives.

Because the museum was closed from 11:30am to 1:30pm, we selected certain galleries to visit and concentrated most of our time on viewing materials from the French period up to the victory at Dien Bien Phu.  Early exhibits documented the nearly continuous uprisings against the French in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.  Many later exhibits complemented what we had seen at the Dien Bien Phu battlefield and provided more material on the political background to the fighting that was not described at Dien Bien Phu.  There is a great picture of "Tricky Dick" Nixon touring Dien Bien Phu's fortified camp in February 1954 with the French Expeditionary Force's brass hats.  Proving once again that losers stick together!  Promptly at 11:30am, we were escorted from the museum by the staff.  Vietnamese do  not miss lunch -- museum visitors or no museum visitors!

We walked across the street to the National Museum of Vietnamese History.  Breaking with Vietnamese tradition, they do not observe the two- hour lunch break.  The building was purpose-built as a museum by the French in th 1920s and is a very attractive structure.  It's collections are essentially archaelogical and anthropological and are very well-displayed and captioned in three languages -- Vietnamese, English, and French.  We spent about two hours viewing the collections, which included a number of exceptional pieces from Vietnam's pre-French colonial periods, especially Cham and the early Vietnamese kingdoms.  A special exhibit in honor of the Year of the Dragon (2012) featured gold artifacts from the museum and on loan to it that contained dragon images.  It was a world-class display.

On our way back to the hotel, we walked past the restored, late-19th Century, French-built Opera House.  Across the street from the Opera House is the newly-constructed building for the Vietnamese Stock Exchange; final touches were being added as we passed--installation of a mini-bull.  Probably, it is a mini-bull because they are only expecting small bull markets.  When we reached the hotel, we decided to have hair cuts -- they are too expensive on the ship - however, at the hotel, they were about what we pay in Kona, not cheap!  And, J went for a massage to see if this would relieve the pain in his leg after the previous day's 250 steps experience.  Actually, it did help a great deal.  Then, there was lunch in the Club Lounge and a short nap.

Our next walking tour was one of our favorites in Hanoi.  An evening stroll around Hoan Kiem Lake in the heart of Hanoi's Old Quarter.  It is a great place to observe the local scene:  Young lovers, couples with small children, old soldiers, retirees, pets walking owners, all come here to take the air.  In the center of the lake is a small tower dedicated to the spirit who lives in the lake and guards Vietnam.  At the south end of the lake is the  Ngoc Son Temple, where many people come to make offerings and pray for good luck.  Walking at a moderate pace and following the sidewalk around the lake, it took us about 45 minutes to complete the circuit.

The Old Quarter and surrounding part of Hanoi has not greatly changed in 15 years.  Most new construction has been intentionally located in other areas outside the built-up portions of the older Vietnamese and French quarters.  This gives older areas a much more uniquely Vietnamese feeling than the new, high-rise developments, which could be anywhere in Asia or for that matter anywhere in the world.

Returning to our hotel, we played cards and packed for our flight the next morning to Bangkok.  At 6:00am, we were awakened, ate breakfast, and checked out of the Hotel Metropole.  Our guide and driver picked us up at 7:00am, and we arrived at Noi Bai Airport by 7:45am in plenty of time for the 9:30am Vietnam Airlines flight to Bangkok.  In Bangkok we were to rejoin the Silversea World Cruise contingent for a special event at the Shangri-La Hotel.  However, the luxury and urban excitement of our old friend Bangkok would not compare to the historical insights and natural beauty of northwestern Vietnam, which we had experienced over the last few days.