When I was in Nam...

We finally left the relative comfort of China and entered the unknown... Vietnam! We had only one month in the country so picking up the pace was a must. Holding with this, we went straight from the border towns of Hekou (in China)/Lao Cai (in Vietnam) to the former French hill station of Sapa. This area is in the mountains of the Northwest and is said to be a highlight of Vietnam. Arriving in Sapa I could definitely see what all the fuss was about. The town is on the top of a mountain, overlooking Vietnam's largest mountain, Mt. Fansipan. The city has character; colourfully dressed ethnic minorities walk along narrow streets lined with distinctly European looking buildings. Although a bit touristy, it was a treat for me to walk through the bustling streets so close to expanses of rice fields and mountains. We certainly didn't see anything like that in China.

In Sapa we decided to do the common thing and book an overnight trip to a minority village. On the morning of our departure a tiny, spunky girl rocked up to our hotel and introduced herself as Sho - our tour guide. Sho was all of 5 feet tall and 19 years old but I could see immediately that she was going to kick our butts on the hike! She hailed from a village of H'Mong people just outside of Sapa and proved to be indispensable as she answered all of our crazy questions.

For me, the trip itself was both good and bad. I really loved hiking around the edge of the rice paddies and through jungle-like areas, seeing all sorts of animals and watching people work in the fields. I also loved seeing some of the traditional houses and watching the guides whip up 5 amazing dishes from a pile of raw food in record time.

The part of the adventure I felt very uneasy about was the interaction between us and the people of the area. For the most part we were met with kind smiles, calls of "buy something from me" or indifferent stares. However, when we visited a less well-off village on the second day my heart was broken by disheveled, malnourished children who rushed up to us. Perhaps naively, I was not prepared for this... This particular village was not given any money by the tour company, just added onto the tour so we could add to the list of ethnic minorities we saw. In essence, we were being voyeurs, greedily looking at how these unfortunate people were forced to live. Maybe naeively again, I can't imagine anything like that being allowed to happen in Canada... Imagine a tour leading people through impoverished aboriginal villages in the North and not compensating them in any way. I felt sick. When we returned I vowed never to go on a trip like that again.

After Sapa we headed to the capital city of Hanoi. I really enjoyed my time in the city. There's something very special about the hustle and bustle of motorbikes, street vendors and pedestrians all trying to share the same narrow roadways. In Hanoi, it seemed that attempting to cross the street was to take your life in your hands. Crossing must be done in stages, walk and stop and walk and stop, all the while the bikes and cars whiz around you at breakneck speeds. While in the city proper we visited a prison museum, the Temple of Literature and walked past the Ho Chi Min Mausoleum.

After two nights in Hanoi we bravely embarked on yet another tour, this time to the majestic karst formations that make up Halong Bay. Halong is yet another 'must do' and as such was crammed with tourists from all around the globe. We spent two days putting around on a boat and one night staying on Cat Ba Island, the most populated Island in the area. Again, as in Sapa, the scenery was magnificent but the tour was disappointing.

After another two nights in Hanoi, Amy and I took a hellish night bus to a city on the Central coast called Hue. The city is famous for housing the king's residence and a number of other historical sites in the center of the old quarter. We were lucky enough to meet a friendly cyclo driver who took us around the old city and explained all the sites. We even got to see the hospital in which he was born, now there's a tour! On the second day in the area it rained buckets so we stayed inside and taking advantage of our satellite TV proceeded to glue ourselves to HBO.

Our next stop was Danang, about 2 hours further along the coast from Hue. Danang is made famous for its proximity to China Beach, the infamous American army holiday spot. The city itself is a sorry sack of dilapidated buildings. We visited specifically to see the museum of Cham Sculpture housed in a nauseatingly yellow stucco building in the city center. The museum was well worth a visit as it had examples of Hindu sculpture taken from many temples throughout the country. Cham people are Hindu people who populated Central Vietnam a long time ago. Now considered a Vietnamese ethnic minority group, they are a 'lost civilization' perhaps akin to the Maya of Mexico. Anyway, the sculptures were really interesting and seeing them prepared us for our trip to the ruins of My Son in our next stop... Hoi An

There are two things that make Hoi An a special place. The first is the copious tailor shops in and around the downtown area. The second is the copious vendors/salespeople/touts that harass you at every turn. The tailor shops are actually quite convenient... You walk in, choose the cut, colour and fabric, they take your measurements and one day later you have a new item of clothing. The touts are another story. I swear, if one more person tells me to come to their family's shop and asks me the standard questions of "where are you from? How long have you been in Hoi An? Where are you going? etc." to start a fake conversation I will scream. It sounds a bit harsh but it is damn tiring fending off people all day.

In Hoi An we took yet another tour, this time to the ancient ruins of My Son. This tour was actually worthwhile as the guide was informative and we went so darn early there were few other tourists around. The ruins look a little like a small-scale version of Angkor Wat. The war had taken a toll on the area... there were bomb craters and the buildings were visibly damaged.

After Hoi An we headed further south in search of sand and sea.