We spent Christmas in Vietnam. Not exactly a hotbed of Christianity, although the French influence has left some churches in Hanoi. We thought it might be nice to escape the rank commercialism that is Christmas in Hong Kong, and indeed it was, although vestiges remained. We saw several Santa-suited bikers on the streets of Hanoi. We went out to dinner on Xmas eve with another Fulbright family from HK. We ate at a relatively up-market restaurant and were greeted there by a Santa. Except that he was a little half-hearted. His beard was pathetic and he was only wearing the top half of the costume. But once we were seated, he came and gave us all a present, attractively packaged in a brown paper bag. Inside was a pair of white cotton tube socks. Everybody got the same adult size, which particularly bemused the young children present. But the food was good and that represented our main Christmas meal. Christmas day itself found us being driven about 4 hours to Halong Bay.
Given limited time and no knowledge, we had opted for a package tour in Vietnam. Buffalo Tours - I would highly recommend them if you want to go to Indochina. So they were taking us to Halong Bay and our small cruise boat that was going to take us around there. HB is one of those breathtakingly beautiful places and a UNESCO World Heritage site. It has these limestone casts that form islands, mostly small rising abruptly out of the waters of the bay. I think there are about 1000 islands in a pretty large bay. It's so gorgeous that everybody wants to go there and so there about 100 boats like ours, cruising the waters. For the most part, there was plenty of room for everybody, although when we visited the caves, we had to wait to get to the dock. I even went kayaking, an unusual event for a landlubber like me, but that way we could get to otherwise inaccessible places. Our boat had 15 passengers and very good food, a good portion of which had come out of the bay.
Actually, Vietnam was good from a culinary perspective, since the other place we went was about the same distance west of Hanoi, Mai Chau, which is up in the hill country. We stayed at a resort there, which catered to us very nicely. It was a small town, surrounded by several small villages, set on a flat plain between two ranges of hills. Quite misty when we were there and also very beautiful. I walked between the rice paddies, which were terraced, though absent of rice since they were between crops. The villages are set up to sell handicrafts to tourist like us, lots of gorgeous scarves and embroideries. We got to enter one house, which belonged to the grandfather of our guide. It was set up on stilts, basically post and beam construction, with a thatched roof and bamboo floor. Large, open, simple and elegant. We did not meet the grandfather, though I would have liked to do so. He had his war medals on the wall and his picture taken with Ho Chi Minh. Next to that was a frame containing 5 photos - Ho, Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin. Elizabeth sometimes found it a little difficult being in Vietnam because of the history, but that aspect did not bother me.
Back in Hanoi we went to visit Ho Chi Minh's tomb and the buildings in which he lived. He started off in a colonial palace but then moved quickly on to a smaller building nearby. But he spent most time in a much smaller two storey, four room building that was very simple and beautiful. Seeing his body was interesting. You have to go through all sorts of security and then march up to it two by two. He looks like he died yesterday. People there really seem to like Uncle Ho and see him as a real hero.
Hanoi was a trip. Six million people and 4 million motorized two-wheelers of various kinds, though mostly with pretty small engines. They are used for multiple transport functions. Seeing them carry families of 4 was common, as were livestock (pigs or chickens) and enormous and apparently precarious loads. Would you fell comfortable transporting your new, large, flat screen TV on a motor scooter? There were some cars, lots of taxis and very few buses - public transport is not one of the major achievements of this socialist state. I am a very proficient urban pedestrian and crossing the street in Hanoi required all of my skills. Vehicles take traffic lights as suggestions, rather than commands, and traffic lanes and right of way are alien concepts. But it all seems to work. Although sometimes it felt that were we risking our lives while being driven places, I never saw an accident. Drivers seem to be able to predict the behavior of others and also judge distances very well.