Vietnam - Hanoi to Halong Bay

We were excited to arrive in Hanoi.  The airport was small but we quickly passed through immigration and took a taxi into town.  The noise is the first thing that hits you, thousands of scooters making their way with their own sense of order through the narrow streets, made smaller by the street vendors selling their wares from the pavement, an astonishing amount of tableware and stainless steel stood out.  Also on the roads, hundreds of bikes and cars and people carrying the tradition pole on their shoulders with various goods attached to the baskets dangling below.  A manic scene to arrive to, but one we quickly got used to in the next few days.

Hanoi Streets

We learnt that a good place to check out Hanoi was from the balconies of the many cafes that lined the streets.  The best ones serving up Vietnamese spring rolls, fresh lemon juice, baguettes (the legacy of the French) and some of the best coffee.  From this elevated position, whilst the coffee slowly dripped through the stainless steel filter into the sweet condensed milk below, it was possible to keep an eye on what's going on, and watch locals and tourists alike haggling for bargains with different degrees of success.

Hanoi is a great place to hang out for a few days.  There is plenty to see as long as you are just happy to wander.  The maze of streets take you from crowded markets, to boutiques selling all sorts of silk and lacquer goods.  Sooner or later it you will end up at the lake in the centre of the city, all roads seem to lead to here.  We took a chance and brought a ticket to see the 'famous' water puppet show, I wrote in my diary 'kind of interesting' make of that what you will.

Perfume River

After a few days in Hanoi we decided to venture on out a trip to the 'Perfume Pagoda', 60 km southwest of Hanoi found in the limestone hills that seem to rise out of nowhere in the paddy fields.  We got to the start of the path to the grotto by means of a traditional boat along the Perfume river, as it was January it wasn't busy, but judging by the many boats lined up on the side of the banks we could only imagine what it was like in peak season.  For us though it was peaceful, a view of paddy fields and farmers wearing traditional conical hats and colourful clothes.  The only others on the river were a couple of boats full of soldiers, out on a day trip! 

 

 

The path was steep to the Pagoda, which turned out to be a grotto, a gaping cavern accessed by a steep decent of 120 steps.  A place of Buddhist worship, the smell of incense permanently lingered and created a haze in the air, adding to the atmosphere of this spiritual site.  As we climbed down we saw the foundations of a cable car being build, a disappointing image to leave such a sacred area with.

Perfume River Temple

Top of the list when thinking about a trip to Vietnam was a trip to Halong Bay, a picture postcard image of the essence of Vietnam, 2000ish limestone islands rising up from the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin.  Well we made it, unfortunately on possibly the worst weather day of the year.  We could only imagine the beautiful scenery laid out before us as we made our way to the boat dock.  As a positive we had the whole boat to ourselves, clearly the only foreigners mad enough to be taking this trip today.  Still we got the picture, and as the boat made its zigzag path between the formations the mist lifted at times giving us a tantalising view of what had been promised.  We stopped twice, both times at caves that had been discovered by fishermen a few decades before.  One had been nicely 'neon'ed', but the other more impressive without the added bling.

Halong Bay

Once back on shore, coats and woolly hat still on we wandered around the small town, and got the impression that it only really came alive in the sunshine.  So we found a cafe on the waterfront and order Pho, followed by banana pancakes, all washed down with ice cold beer.  Hanoi and the Perfume River had been great, Halong bay a disappointment, but that's the way it often goes, the least sold destinations are always the best.

Sunrise over Sinai

Whenever people ask me which is my favourite travel experience, it's always a difficult answer, but one day always makes it into the top ten.  I had been travelling through Egypt for two weeks already, had crossed the White Desert, swum in an oasis that appeared as a welcome vision out of nowhere, taken in my fill of history, temples and pyramids and escaped the chaos of Luxor and Cairo.  Now I found myself in the Sinai peninsula, a vast open expanse of desert, dry land and mountains, interspersed with a few isolated villages, settlements and many goats.

We stopped after a very long hot drive next to Saint Catherine's Monastery at the base of Mt Sinai.  Our reason for being here, to climb to the top and take in the sunrise.  Mt Sinai is famous according to the book of Exodus as the mountain at which the ten commandments were given to Moses by God.  Now, as well as being a destination for the several travellers that make their way to this remote spot, it's also a place of pilgrimage for many who come to feel the magic of this special place.

We had heard talk of large crowds that gather on the top and, keen to get a good spot we started our trek up the mountain at 11.30 p.m. armed with water and sleeping bag.  The trek up follows the camel path, we were lucky, the brightness of the moon lit our way and added to the silent atmosphere, the mountains at their most beautiful in the colourful hues of the dusky light that lit them, a far cry from the reddish hues of the days heat.  It was quite a trek as the path wound its way up the side of the mountain, near the top just before 2 a.m. we reached the steps of repentance, the final challenge to pilgrims looking for forgiveness.  Victory was ours 15 minutes later as we took the final step and made the summit.  The top of the mountain is surprisingly a little flat, a perfect spot of a church and a snack stall.  So having repented we brought cups of hot sweet tea and found a spot to get settled in. 

As we attempted sleep, there was a noticeable change in air temperature and we were glad that we had bothered to haul sleeping bags up here.  Sleep came and went, the stars filling the sky and proving a distraction too many, despite the weariness of the legs and the late hour.  Finally we drifted off, surrounded by just a few fellow pilgrims.

Just before 5 a.m. we awoke to mummers of quiet chatter all around.  There must have been 400 hundred people all here to see one thing.  And it didn't disappoint, standing on the edge looking out over the endless horizon of the desert plain, the sun began to rise filling the land with blues, pinks, yellow and bright orange as the light was turned on over Moses' mountain.  Whatever your feelings about religion no one could have helped but be impressed with the majesty of what we had been lucky enough to see.

With the crowds this time, we made our way down the side of the mountain and back to our truck in time for banana pancakes!  The moment lost as reality set back in.  One final effort took us to St Catherine's monastery with is beautiful frescos and inlays of gold.  Even the chance to see the 'burning bush'  which is looking particularly green after all this time.  From here it was time to leave the interior and make our way to the coast, but the imprint of that sunrise has stayed in my memories for a long time.