Siam's Ancient Capital

Our final World Heritage Site visit was to the city of Ayutthaya, the ancient capital of old Siam. The city has several temple and palace ruins where visitors can take a walk into the past and marvel in the architecture of the ancient Thai rulers. There is one temple with an Angkor-style top, but the most have their own style. Once again, we were fascinated by the beauty and history of this peaceful and astounding ancient world.

We traveled in and out of Ayutthaya by train from Bangkok so we had just over 3.5 hours to explore what we could. We were able to hire a tuk-tuk for the day at a good rate and went straight to the Tourist Authority of Thailand (TAT) office to get a map and plan a route for the day. We had read about the various Wats and the Palace and had a list of those we wanted to see. We visited 4 of the sites and were able to see much of others as we passed. They are quite spread out, so we felt good about what we selected and managed in our time frame.

The first stop took us to the Grand Palace area and a modern Wihan in which Buddhists still come to make merit and honor the Buddha within. We traveled over to Wat Phra Si Sanphet to wander through the crumbling brick structures and observe the temple chedis pointing toward the sky. The ashes of kings are kept in these chedis and they still stand tall and impressive over the grounds of the temple. There are beautiful plumeria trees surrounding the area as well, making it a gorgeous and peaceful place to walk.

One of the areas we wanted to see for months was Wat Mahathat, where a Buddha head is surrounded by tree trunks growing into a temple foundation. Pictures of it are commonly seen in many places and we saw it on a travel show as well as in a featured article in one of the in-flight magazines along our travels. It was a magnificent look at the way in which nature reclaims space. Someone had left offerings of soda cans (Mirinda, in case you were curious) so that left an interesting composition to the scene! The entire Wat itself was actually quite impressive with 100s of seated Buddha statues surrounding the outer walls of the central complex and several large Buddhas within. The seated statues are primarily headless by now, but still made for an impressive sight. We spent the longest amount of time here walking through the maze of the temple structures and imagining how it might have looked before the destruction of wars and time.

Next we selected Wat Na Phra Men because it was said it had beautifully painted ceilings. While we found the Wat and the Buddhas within to be beautiful, the ceiling looked much like several others we have seen in Wats throughout our travels. There were some really detailed paintings in Cambodia, so we expected something along those lines. At any rate, it was a nice stop and gave another style of Wat to explore.

Our final stop was to see a reclining Buddha, so we selected the one at Wat Yai Chai Mongkhon. Ginnie read this was one of the largest of the area and most significant, it also happened to be closest to the train station which was a bonus as we only had 30 minutes until we needed to get back for our tickets. This Wat was really impressive, the reclining Buddha brings revelers who come to pray and make merit as well as those interested in seeing the statue up close. We were again astounded with the beautiful site and the peace of the statue and the gardens. Another feature here is a central chedi up which we climbed to see the views of Ayutthaya, as well as the grounds of the Wat. There are numerous Buddha statues clothed in saffron surrounding the walls outside the chedi as well as a beautiful courtyard with several Buddha statues facing one another. We would have loved to spend more time quietly enjoying the Wat, but our train would not wait.

The train ride itself was another adventure. It’s quite simple to do, we hopped on the SkyTrain in Bangkok then transferred to the Metro Subway which went straight to the train station. The train ride cost less than $1 US for both of us (cheaper than each of the SkyTrain and Metro tickets!) and took 2 hours since it stops a lot (we’d call it a “bred kyat” in Belize!). We took the 3^rd class train, so that meant a bit of an uncomfortable seat with open windows providing our relief from the heat and humidity of Thailand in June. On the way home, evidently an earlier train was delayed and somehow we ended up on that. We asked station masters before getting on and they said to go on even though it was earlier than our scheduled departure. The conductor definitely looked twice at our tickets, but didn’t say anything. It turns out this was the best mistake we made on our trip. The train we got on was not one that stops at every point along the way, so we were back in just over an hour! After a long day of traveling and exploring through one of the hottest and most humid of days, it was nice to be back to our condo for an early night and time to relax!

ความสงบและความรัก!

Hanoi Highlights

Welcome to Hanoi! We spent four full days exploring the city and feel the best way to share the sights is through a lot of photos. Join us for a brief excursion through the streets of Hanoi's Old Quarter and surrounds!

We walked everywhere, so we saw a lot on the streets. Typical sights include rows and rows of parked motos (as well as rows and rows of oncoming motos!), streets lined with shops peddling the same product (in fact, from their origins these streets were named according to the item they sell, though now many do not sell the same thing, they still have a street devoted to a certain product, like silk street, toy street, shoe street, counterfeit street {where they sell the fake money used for ceremonies and such}, etc.). We also visited Hanoi's market and had an early morning when we returned from Sapa during which we actually saw streets devoid of motos and just waking up with merchants sweeping their store front sidewalks.

We visited two museums in town and learned more of the history of the American War (as it is referred in Vietnam) at Hoa Lo Prison Museum {aka "Hanoi Hilton" by POWs} and the lives of Vietnamese women at the Vietnamese Women's Museum. We found ourselves referring to what we learned at the Women's Museum frequently as it was so informative. The exhibits cover family life, marriage, birth rituals (and look at these from the perspective of both the majority Vietnamese culture as well as the many different minority tribes), street vendors, single mothers, fashion, and war heroines. In our collage from the prison you'll see a flight suit - that belongs to Senator John McCain. As has been the case throughout Vietnam, the explanation for the ways the prison was used through the years (first by the French to detain political prisoners - essentially communist party members who opposed French colonial rule and later by the Vietnamese to detain American POWs) was chock full of propaganda. They even had eery music to go along with the different exhibits. They painted a rosy picture of life for POWs that somehow seems a bit too idealistic...

One of our favorite activities in Hanoi was the night at the Water Puppet Theatre where we saw a performance of the traditional art of water puppetry. Anthony read about this form of story telling and also saw it featured on a travel program and put it on our list for the trip months before we left. We considered catching a show in Ho Chi MinhCity to be sure we didn't miss it, but the art form is said to have originated in fields in the north and we preferred to see it here. We really enjoyed the show and loved seeing the stories unfold through the puppetry. The puppeteers stand in the water behind the curtain manipulating these beautifully carved puppets from long bamboo poles. An orchestra sits to the side playing beautiful music on traditional instruments. The show is definitely a highlight of a visit to Hanoi!

After the water puppet theatre, we found ourselves in the middle of an open-air, middle-of-the-busy-street performance. Motos simply parked themselves right in the middle of traffic to watch and those on foot simply filled in the spaces. We watched acrobats, a magician (we could see all the secrets to his tricks from our spot... uh-oh :) ), and an in-sync-like boy dance group. It was really interesting to just stand in the middle of a busy major thoroughfare to watch these acts (we couldn't tell if they were amateur talent night type of things or not; the magician certainly seemed to be!).

On our Saturday morning, we made our way out early to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum where "Uncle Ho" (as he is referred by the Vietnamese people) is interred in a glass sarcophagus for those who wish to pass by and pay their respects. We thought it would be an interesting cultural activity to witness so we joined the queue and made our way past his preserved body (which travels annually to Russia for two months for touch-ups). Interesting fact: Ho Chi Minh requested a simple cremation, yet here he lies eternally for all to see. Our walk also led us past the Flag Tower, Vietnam's tallest flag and a World Heritage Site. Within the Mausoleum Complex are also a few other sites of note - Ho Chi Minh's Presidential Palace and a stilt house that is a replica of his home (or maybe is his home relocated, we had some confusing information on that and actually did not end up going over to see it!) and the One Pillar Pagoda.

The photo at the bottom right (above) shows St. Joseph's Cathedral which was just around the corner from our guesthouse and served as a landmark as we navigated our way through the city. It looked beautiful in the early morning sunlight and actually did not have one moto in the lot, which we had not seen at any other time!

After the Mausoleum, we walked to the Temple of Literature. This is one of Hanoi's oldest sights; it is dedicated to Confucius and is the location of the country's first university. It is a long complex made up of five courtyards with different themes. In one, you find the stelea of the philosophers - over 80 stelea devoted to the many teachers of the school. Toward the end is where you find the temple devoted to Confucius with a large statue surrounded by statues of four major university leaders and professors. Once again, the architectural style is stunning. The complex itself is a nice, quiet respite from the hustle and bustle of the city surrounding the serene environs.

On the morning of our final day in Hanoi we'd arrived at 5am on the overnight express train from Sapa. Since it was too early to check into our room, we took advantage of the quiet morning and enjoyed people-watching and resting at Hoan Kiem Lake and were able to get in to visit the Ngoc Son Pagoda just as it opened for visitors. The early morning is a great time to see the people of Hanoi come out to the lake to exercise and begin their day - we saw tai chi classes, aerobics, runners, and several individuals doing their own thing. On the red wooden bridge (The Huc) that leads to the pagoda, several people used the railing as a balance bar, dance barre, and support for some intense sit-ups. We felt almost lazy since we were just waiting for the pagoda to open at 7am! This pagoda also has an important history as the site where a giant turtle took a sword from the hero Tram Hung Dao who had defeated the Mongols. The sword now remains in the lake protected by these giant turtles (of which sightings are reported at random; do they exist? we just don't know for sure :) ) for a time when it may be needed to protect Vietnam again from invaders. There is a preserved specimen of the turtle in the pagoda along with an altar to the hero and other traditional relics; we also enjoyed the fact that two boxes of mixed flavors of Oreos were left as an offering.

When we were not busy meandering through the streets, we found time to enjoy great meals and discovered a fabulous little bakery where we enjoyed daily chocolate chip cookies and apple-cinnamon-oat muffins {we'll leave it to you to guess who ate which treat ;)}. In fact, after we visited Ngoc Son Pagoda, it was finally time for Joma to open, and we treated ourselves to a big breakfast! We also discovered a really amazing ice cream place where we ate lunch of a banana-split Hanoi style and a chocolate lovers' dark chocolate ice cream sundae (we bet you can guess who ate what this time, too...); sometimes, you just need a treat after a long night on a train!

We found Hanoi to be a great city in which to walk and spend time. We heard many stories of busy streets and crazy traffic and touts trying to scam tourists, but we keep calm, stay alert, and prepare ourselves with information on reasonable taxi rates, so we had no trouble. You can always say no and walk away from a tout or a driver trying to pull a scam and it's up to them to realize they can either make a fair sale or no sale. We loved Hanoi and feel we definitely got a good glimpse of the local life and a little history during our brief stay.

Hòa bình và Tình yêu!

The Descending Dragon

Ha Long Bay, or as translated, “Descending Dragon Bay” is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located approximately 3.5 hours east of Hanoi. During our visit to northern Vietnam, we had the opportunity to take an excursion on one of the many junk boats that make its home among the 3000+ islets (though many locals claim there to be only 1969 due to it matching the year of Ho Chi Minh’s death). The bay is world famous for its striking limestone karsts of varying shape and size that are spread throughout the area. According to geologists, the limestone in Ha Long Bay has gone through over 500 million years of formation through varying conditions and environments. The karsts themselves have endured through a more rapid process of accelerated formations as a result of the past 20 million years in a home that hosts a very tropical and often wet climate.

According to local legend, when the Vietnamese were fighting Chinese invaders, the gods sent a family of dragons to help defend the land. This family of dragons began spitting out jewels and jade.These jewels turned into the islands and islets dotting the bay, linking together to form a great wall against the invaders. The people kept their land safe and formed what later became the country of Vietnam. After that, dragons were interested in peaceful sightseeing of the earth, and then decided to live here. The place where the mother dragon descended was named Hạ Long, the place where the dragon's children attended upon their mother was called Bái Tử Long island (Bái: attend upon, Tử: children, Long: dragon), and the place where the dragon's children wriggled their tails violently was called Bạch Long Vỹ island (www.ngm.com).

We began our trip with an early bus pick up from our hotel in Hanoi, and within ten minutes, we had gathered an additional 10 travelers before setting off on the 3+ hour ride to Ha Long City. The trip was through varying landscapes, including urban areas, rice and corn fields, and many villages and small towns. As we neared Ha Long City there were views of the great limestone karsts scattered across the distant landscape. Once we reached the port, we were organized by our tour guide and on a boat in a matter of 15-20 minutes (incidentally, just enough time to make a bathroom pit stop and reject about 37 offers to buy postcards, books, candy, chips, and other paraphernalia from the local sellers). The area is obviously quite touristy due to the great attraction to visit the Bay by just about every person passing through Vietnam. We were on our boat and off to cruise the Bay at about 12:20pm. Once on the boat the attendants served a locally produced seafood dish and dessert (we opted out of this due to the many food issues each of us contends with, as well as thinking that the last place we would want to fall ill would be on a boat far from the comforts of a nice hotel and clean bathroom). After a quick snack, and while the remaining passengers were eating their prepared lunch, we set out for the deck and sat for a long while taking in the views and just acknowledging the immense beauty that surrounded us. It’s really a difficult thing to describe, and taking pictures to capture it is equivalent to trying to capture the Grand Canyon in a few photographs…although those of you who know us well, know that we can never resist taking lots of pictures when we travel.

We cruised over to our first stop at Thien Cung Cave (Heaven’s Palace). The cave was discovered by a local fisherman not too long ago. According to the story, the fisherman was out and about his daily business when he was distracted by a monkey clamoring up the limestone. He followed the monkey to see where it was heading when the monkey suddenly looked as though he had slid through the rock. Upon further investigation the fisherman discovered a small opening high on the cliff which led to this particular cave. According to local legend, a beautiful young lady named May (cloud), caught the eye of the Dragon Prince and he fell in love with her. They were betrothed, and their wedding lasted seven days and seven nights in the very centre of the grotto. In honor of the wedding, small dragons flew about through the stalactites and stalagmites, elephants danced together happily, snakes twined themselves around trees and two stone lions danced with their manes flowing in the wind. A large elephant, smartly dressed, waited for the bride and the groom.Many of these images, as well as lots more can be observed as one walks through the different chambers of the cave. Though we have traveled to a fair number of underground caverns, caves, and other geological wonders over the years, both of us really were astounded by the stretch of beauty within this particular area.

The second cave we entered, Hang Dau Go, is one of the most beautiful caves at Ha Long. The name, Dau Go or Giau Go, has direct ties to the history of Vietnam. According to the locals (and our guide), while preparing for the Mongolian attacks in 1288, General Tran Hung Dao, sent a convoy to this area to cut wood from this region of Ha Long Bay. Wooden stakes were then fashioned from the wood and hidden in Dau Go cave. The stakes were then embedded in Bach Dang River to form a barrier against the attacking Mongols. According to legend, General Tran Hung Dao dealt a great blow to the Kublai Khan when he tricked the Mongolian army into chasing him deep up Bach Dang's channel. When the tide was down the enemies were stuck in these wooden stakes driven into the river bed. Dau Go was also the site where general Tran Khan Du hid his force while waiting for the Mongols led by Truong Van Ho in 1287.

Once we were back on the boat we made our way through the immense karsts to the floating village of Cua Van. Cua Van Village is home to about 200 households with nearly 800 people. They all earn their living through fishing and aquaculture. With an outstanding lifestyle of fishermen and merchants, the most crowded population in the fishing zone, Cua Van Village is considered the "capital" of the World Heritage Area and has been selected as the location of the first "floating cultural centre" in Vietnam. Interestingly many of the people who live in this and other Ha Long floating villages, have never set foot on land.

Our next stop along our cruise was a view of the famous rock formations in the bay. We stopped by “Fighting Rooster Rock,” “Incense Rock,” and one referred to as “King Kong.” Many of the formations in the bay have local names, and often include more conventional identifications with which visitors can relate.

After our final cruise around the bay area, and many hours on the boat, we headed back to port, reaching back to Hanoi later that same night immensely tired, but also thankful for having had the opportunity to visit and observe such a beautiful place.

Hòa bình và Tình yêu!

Culture, Tradition, Great Eats, and Fashion

Once we arrived in Hoi An, we were welcomed brightly by our hotel reception with tea and delicious macaroon cookies. Immediately upon arrival, we could see this was a quaint town that we would enjoy spending the next 5 days wandering and exploring. Our plans for Hoi An included a visit to My Son to the see the Cham ruins site, a cooking class, visiting the buildings in the Ancient Town World Heritage Site and relaxing at the beach on the South China Sea.

We decided the trip to My Son Sanctuary (also a World Heritage Site) would be our first day since we would have to take a tour group to visit and the trip starts early in the morning. Hoi An was pretty hot when we arrived and was even hotter in the jungle where the Cham site remains. This site served as the religious and political capital of the Champa Kingdom. We visited the entire site and were fortunate that this group tour involved just 5 minutes of the guide telling us about the different sites and then letting us explore on our own for the next 1.5 hours. The entire site covers a rather small area, so we were able to walk through each of the excavation areas with plenty of time to spare. The majority of our photos show the most excavated area; the others are now simply being preserved and are covered with tarp and surrounded by scaffolding since they do not wish to damage the Cham bricks. It is interesting to note that the Cham bricks are perfectly shaped and put together so there are no joints, much like the work of the Inca (only the Inca used large stones and the Cham made their own bricks). To this day, Vietnamese attempt to replicate the Cham brick but have been unsuccessful in determining the exact combination of ingredients to make a brick that does not break down like the modern day formula.

The site predates the Angkor sites by a few centuries and has some “same, same, but different” elements in terms of shapes of temples and carvings of figures into the brick. The Cham actually built the structures first, then carved right into the brick structures, incredible work. These are far smaller than the elaborate Angkorian structures and provide an interesting comparison between the different empires, who were enemies.

My Son also has a strong connection to the Vietnam War (known as the American War by the Vietnamese) as the Viet Cong utilized it as a base and the Americans bombed the monuments. When asked not to destroy the historical monuments, Nixon agreed, but ordered continued killing. There still massive craters left by B52 bombers. The My Son district is also the location of the infamous and horrendous My Lai Massacre of 16 March 1968.

Following the visit to My Son, we took a lunch break back at the hotel and then rented bicycles and traveled 4km to An Bang Beach, which was recommended by our receptionist as better than the one recommended in the tourist books (which is nice since this was more of a local beach and not quite overrun by tourists). The beach is beautiful with mountain views surrounding the South China Sea and small fishing boats along the shore making their way out to sea. We got a little relief from the afternoon heat in the warm waters and enjoyed the first beach day of our entire trip. We chose to skip beaches in other areas since we’d lived in a tropical climate for the past 3.5 years and heard the beaches were spectacular in Vietnam. It was well worth the wait! The ride between the beach and town passes through rice paddies which also provided us gorgeous scenery along the way.

Photos from Red Bridge and a fisherman we encountered on the return boat ride from class

Next up was a day spent adding new recipes and techniques to our repertoire. In order to ensure we would get into a class, we made advanced reservations with the Red Bridge Cooking School for the Half Day Course and spent our second day in Hoi An immersed in Vietnamese culinary education. We had a lot of fun learning the recipes and making our own rice paper – we’ll be sure to share our new skill in making fresh spring rolls with those of you who join us for dinners! We also made Vietnamese crispy pancakes, eggplant claypots, and fancy food decorations. The best part was trying all our creations and eating a huge meal after the class. We did not realize how much we would eat that day and were so full by the time we boarded the small boat back to town. During the ride we encountered a fisherman throwing out his net and pulling in his catch and stopped to watch him work - an incredible sight.

We first took a tour of the produce market and learned some of the fruits/foods of Vietnam, many of which are the same we had in Belize only with different names. One interesting fruit is the Vietnamese Pitaya (aka Dragon Fruit) as it has white flesh rather then the bright purple/pink found in Belize and in Cambodia.

Since we were still quite full we decided to have some nice dessert treats later as we walked through the lantern-lit streets during the Hoi An Full Moon Festival held on the 14^th day of the lunar month and during which the streets are closed to motorized traffic (we happened to be on the bridge just before closing so we saw a lot of traffic getting out of town and causing some jams) and the lights are turned off along the river so lanterns and candles and the bright moon light the way. We also happened upon a small parade and there were more carnival-style games happening in the streets (we watched a fun game on our first night in which participants attempt to break a hanging claypot with a bamboo stick while wearing a clay mask with no eye holes). It was a festive night and great way to end such a fun day.

During the remainder of our visit, we toured some of the buildings of the Ancient Town. A ticket can be purchased that grants access to one each of the five different types of preserved spaces. We were able to skip a museum and visit 2 Chinese assembly halls, which we found to be the more interesting of the sites. We also visited an old house that combines Japanese, Chinese, and Vietnamese styles. Our other stops included the Quan Cong Temple and the handicraft workshop where we found primarily a shop. The variety of architectural styles from the Japanese and Chinese who settled in Hoi An during its busy days as a port town provide stunning scenery and a beautiful backdrop to the narrow streets and riverside shops of this delightful town.

In addition to the varied culture, tradition, and food of Hoi An, the town is home to an overwhelming number of tailors and shoemakers. The seamstresses and tailors can make anything – they just need a photo and your measurements and you will have a designer outfit in no time. With a limited budget and only backpacks, putting together a new wardrobe was not in store for us, but after reading reviews of tailors and asking around, ginnie was able to have a beautiful dress made for the family wedding in June. It was hard not to have a suit made for Anthony as they are so well done and cost much less, but to carry it back would be quite a challenge. This is also a shoe-lover’s dream as you can design and have shoes made as well! We did not go that far, but it’s tempting! We also visited the markets and discovered they sell sleep sacks, which we use since they are good protection from sheets when traveling and being silk are far more comfortable in the heat (we used ours the entire time we lived in Belize and every day since - our first ones were a departure gift when leaving for Belize and since we have each had to replace them); we are now frustrated with how much companies charge for them since we were able to get really large ones for less than $5!

We also set aside a full day to return to the beach and decided to give the tourist one a try (Cua Dai). The 5km bicycle ride was not as scenic as it passed by shops and eventually hotels and resorts. The prices for renting a chair were far more expensive and the beach was not as nice, so we decided to simply continue along the road and returned to An Bang Beach for the day. We actually had a cooler day for this visit, but it was perfect for relaxing. On the ride home, the rice farmers were burning paddies and the sky lit up with a beautiful magenta. We rode back out to get a few photos of the hard work of the rice farmers. Witnessing this, we will be quite careful not to waste a grain of rice!

Our departure from Hoi An was just as lovely as the arrival when our hosts presented us with gifts. We loved our time in Hoi An and feel certain we will return some day.

Hòa bình và Tình yêu!