From Hue to to Hanoi

Wow! Almost three weeks have passed since my last blog- this does well to demonstrate how all-consuming Vietnam has been for me! All-consuming, and, rich. :)

I spent two days in Hue with Claude, and this is where we parted ways, as I set off by myself for the first time since I had arrived in Vietnam (with the exception of my 24-hour little motorbike excursion to Hoi An), to make my way from Hue to Hanoi. It was a different feeling indeed to know that I had Claude to come back to when I took off for my little mini-vacation to the popular beach town of Hoi An; as I pulled away from Claude in a Cyclo towards the Hue Train station and the 7:30pm sleeper-train that would take me to Hanoi that night, I felt my own raw vulnerability and fear filter through my heart and body, (along with some excitement and joy), as I headed off in to the unknown by myself, in a country that had already proven itself to be harsh.

I felt emotion start to well up in my throat and make its way to my eyes as I realized how much I was going to miss Claude after spending three rich weeks together in Vietnam. We shared many experiences and made many discoveries together. He took me to places and introduced me to people that I never would have seen or met, and gave me more of an insider's view to the ways of the Vietnamese people, as he has spent extensive time out here and speaks the language. He offered me great support during my hardest times and week of illness, and I don't know what I would have done without him! He now remains in Hue for the next two months to finish a book he has been writing.

Before we parted ways, we spent the two days in Hue together, exploring by bicycle the first day, and by motorbike on the second. Day one was my absolute favorite, because after we visited the Forbidden Purple City and attended a traditional cultural performance of music, dance, and dragons at the Royal Theater in the morning, we took our bicycles for a ride around the Song Huong (Perfume River) all afternoon until dinnertime.

This ride was so incredible! We explored the many dirt roads and pathways that weave through many villages that exist just a kilometer or two outside the city center. I felt like we had traveled in time, as the contrast between the hustle and bustle of downtown Hue and these quiet country roads that were just outside of it was vast. All day, we rode around at a slow pace, stopping frequently to take photos, talk to locals, (especially the kids that came running after us all day shouting 'He-llooo! What is your name? Hell-ooo! Goodbye! What is your name? He-llooo!' It was so much fun and such a joy.

At one point we hit what we thought was the end of the road, and a pack of ten local Village-women approached us and surrounded Claude as soon as they realized that he could speak Vietnamese. They were trying to convince us to leave our bicycles behind and continue the path by foot, and either way, to take a ride to the other side of the river with them on one of their boats. They were smiling and giggling for the ten minutes we spent interacting with them as we sucked on sugarcane sticks that we had bought just a bit earlier down the road, and decided to take their advice.

We walked up a long trail of stairs to a Pagoda at the top. Beautiful. Many shrines created an enclosure around the most ornate and central shrine. Incense burned by the handful in sand-filled planters every way we turned, and little candles burned in subtle corners, as I marveled at the maintenance it must take to keep these alight, with not a Monk in sight. This Pagoda seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, and when we had cycled out to this location, I had felt like we were far from the regularly traveled path, and had not seen a single other tourist along the way. Nonetheless, there was a little station below the Pagoda by the river of people selling bottles of water and other drinks. This has been true all over Vietnam so far, and this feeling of big city against wandering to what feels like the middle of nowhere has been ever-penetrating.

When we descended the stairs back to our enthusiastic village-women, two of them loaded our two town-bikes into a long canoe, and helped us in. We had a slow ride across the river to the other side that lasted less than ten minutes, with Claude and I snapping pictures of ourselves, the bicycles, and the paddling ladies all packed into this small and narrow boat. We made it back to the other side, and tipped our dedicated escorts. We explored until the sun threatened to disappear, and came back to the city for dinner and sleep.

The next day we rented a motorbike and drove out to the Tomb of Tu Duc, and later to the Tomb of Minh Mang. These are both beautiful historical sites, with ruins of old buildings set in and around lakes and forests. Important to visit and experience, but I definitely prefer the bicycle wanderings of the previous afternoon in local villages! :)

That evening is when Claude and I parted ways at finding a Cyclo driver to take me to the Train Station. The driver spoke a little bit of English so he practiced by making conversation by chatting with me for the ten minute ride to the station. When I asked him the common Vietnamese question of 'Are you married?' he said "No, no... Cyclo Drivers do not make good husbands!"

After determining the correct line to get into for my train, and then figuring out which track to stand at (this information was gleaned through multiple conversations and gesturing from other waiting Vietnamese passengers and a conversation in English with some younger Vietnamese people who told me I was a 'true traveler' for taking the train when I could be flying in an airplane like most foreigners) I got on board.

There was further confusion over which compartment I was to get into, but finally I found it, and got on my top bunk in a 4-bed sleeper compartment, "soft berth" the highest luxury in Vietnamese train travel. I shared my compartment with three older Vietnamese guys, and I definitely felt my own strangeness in their eyes. It was a little uncomfortable as I could feel their watching eyes on me every time I climbed up or down from my bunk, but as the passage of time from that night to the following morning ensued, I became used to their stares, and even exchanged a few smiles with them, as well as one of them helping me to lower my bag from its high storage compartment. I slept quite well that night with the rocking of the train and its sounds that lulled me to sleep.

I had called 'The Real Darling Cafe' from my Vietnamese cell phone on the train the next morning, and reserved myself a room. When I got to the Hanoi train station, I was quickly identified as a customer by a local motorbike taxi driver, and with my large traveler backpack on my back, and my smaller backpack on my front, I hopped on the back of his bike and wrapped my arms around his waist, and he sped me to my hotel, which is a family-run place, where I got a sweet triple room for the price of a single, at $9 per night. This is where I have been staying before, between, and after multiple trips in and out of the city, and has been a great place to book trips, ask questions, and chart my course on an impending solo motorbike tour that I was planning in the NorthWest part of Vietnam, which I left for two days after arriving in Hanoi.