The drive outside of Hanoi was fascinating, in itself. Cement highways looped in the air and cows lounged in the middle of the road eating huge piles of trash (really something). The air was so smoggy that pretty much every person on a motorbike had a mask and glasses. If this is what the future looks like with pollution and smog coming, I am not excited in the least. It really felt like I was on a far away planet. Pretty soon, rice fields abounded, and women in traditional conical palm hats tended to the paddies. Propaganda posters also abounded, often showing an image of Ho Chi Minh holding a small child.
About an hour into the journey we got a flat tire. Stone rolled his one-side-mirror motorbike to the nearest shop. On his own, he was able to show me where the teeny tiny hole was. The tire change took all of 5 minutes, and $5 (or 100 dong). We got back on and rode for another half hour before getting another flat tire- on the same wheel. At this point we were in the middle of the North Vietnamese countryside. It was about 9am, and all that surrounded us were rice paddies, beautiful looming mountains, and peacefulness. Stone pointed to a Chinese style building far off on one of the mountains, instructed me to get off the bike while he rides it to the nearest shop, and to "start walking." He sped off, and it was just me, the beautiful countryside, and me. I was still wearing my helmet! Every few minutes or so someone would pass me on their motorbike- staring. If they said something to me I had no idea what it was. I thought to myself, Wow, if I don't find Stone I don't speak a WORD of Vietnamese, I'm 2 hours outside of Hanoi, and I have no idea where I am right now. It wasn't the most pleasant thought, so I simply looked around at the beautiful, gorgeous countryside and thought to myself, "Adventure" :)
After walking alone for about 10 minutes I came to a small village. There were 4 small children playing. When they saw me they yelled "Hello!" As soon as I yelled "Hello!" back to them it became a big exciting game, and they followed me down the street. The children reminded me so much of my Thai students, that it gave me chills to think about the Vietnam some 40 years ago. To my delight, I spotted Stone. His bike was being worked on by a local man, and he was sitting down drinking some tea (an everyday, Chinese tradition in Vietnam). I was so happy to have found him. It really made me angry to think of American B52's bombing this village and the sweet children and man fixing the motorbike- who had offered me tea and to sit down. While I waited for the tire to be fixed, one of the children came into the shop with a few dong and bought a lollipop. It was so sweet and reminded me of myself as a child going to the Winnetka Sweet Shop. When his bike was good again for the second time, we scooted up the mountain. His bike was huffing and puffing!
The Buddhist Trainging Center was way up in the mountains, and called Thien Vien Truc Lam. When you reached the center, you really felt that you were isolated in the clouds :) I have seen many, many monks, but there was something that felt so different, and so special about this place. Stone and I ate lunch with the monks and nuns which was an experience in itself! Stone had to eat with the monks, and I ate at a table with the nuns. Just as in Thailand, the nuns tried to serve me extensive amounts of food-wanting to make sure that I didn't go hungry. I, on the other hand, knew that I would need to finish everything on my plate. During the actual eating, everyone had to be silent. Prayers were said before and after, too. I received a lot of smiles, and a lot of questions, but I had no idea what people were asking me. It was very frustrating! I will always remember the woman sitting to the right of me watching me eating my watermelon and spitting out the little black seeds. She motioned to me eating them. I think that from now on I will eat the seeds in my watermelon. During one of the (long) final prayers, one of the nuns poured tofu milk into my bowl, swished it around, and gave it to me to drink up all the remnants of my meal. (It reminded me of my old YMCA camp- where we were taught "Leave No Trace Behind"on camping trips. I was glad that I hadn't taken too much food! I also found it interesting that a plastic bag was passed around during the prayers while people silently put their used napkins and watermelon hinds. One nun (the same one who poured me the milk, actually) snatched it nastily from another nun and "shushed" everyone. Really interesting. After lunch, everyone washed their dishes in huge plastic bins, and I was bit by a few mosquitoes and worried that I had malaria (but not for too long hehe). Stone and I were onto our next adventure!
Driving down the mountain was just as exhilarating as driving up it, and Stone's motorbike was much happier. We arrived at Tam Dao National Park, and virtually no one was there. It was pristine and green and beautiful and I felt amazing :) From there, Stone asked me if I wanted to do a "short trek." The trek turned into an almost four hour trek haha. We only walked 6 or 7 km, but the whole thing was vertical...1500 meters up into the mountain! Along the way, I saw a grasshopper the size of my outstretched hand!!! It was unbelievable...I felt like I was in a real tropical jungle...and I was! We also spotted a live black coily animal that looked like a snake- except that there was absolutely no head. Both Stone and I were stumped- had never seen anything like that. I also saw some pretty cool spiders! The air was fresh, and my shirt was soaking wet by the end of the trek. (That shirt, by the way, is the same shirt that I am wearing a week later...right now in Saigon!) Stone told me about a time that he and some hunting buddies saw a mother tiger behead a tribal man who tried to catch a cub (badass! Is this real life?) Every once in a while on the trek, we would come across a hut with a small family living there. I had no idea how a family could feed itself there- tucked away in the jungle, but they did! There were banana trees and killer bees that were kept. There were also some really cool sealed jars of poisonous snakes and centipedes that were captured and jarred for "when someone was sick." It was just an amazing experience being in that jungle.
The closer to the top we came, we reached some local hill tribes in bare feet carrying extremely heavy loads balanced on their shoulders. Stone wanted me to try, and I could barely lift the 35 km for three seconds. I could not believe that these men and women were carrying these bags of sand (to repair the pagoda at the top of the mountain) for as long as they did, all while traveling up the mountain. Also, they were all in their 50s. The Vietnamese people really are the strongest people I know- in every sense of the word.
We reached the top of the mountain just as it started drizzling rain, and sure enough there was a pagoda! We went inside, and there was a "Mother"? ceremony going on in the Taoist religion. In it, one woman changed from beautiful outfit to outfit and danced with candles/ fire in front of everyone else in the temple. It was really beautiful. Also, I got some free dong that people in the temple handed me for good luck! Stone wanted to walk back down, but there was a gorgeous cable-car in the sky, and I really didn't want to walk walk back down. I was so beat! It was $6/ person, and I treated Stone. Best $12 I think I have ever spent. Especially because we were in the same gondola as 2 Vietnamese soldiers from Halong City who loved me. We took lots of cool pictures. I also marveled at the pure green that surrounded us at every angle- not a man-made building in sight. (During the Vietnam War, there were hill tribes that survived in these jungles and who were never discovered).
For our final stop, Stone took me the mountainside town of Tam Dao. It must have taken 20 minutes on his motorbike to reach it, and all of the roads were beautiful and windy. His motorbike was huffing and puffing again! In the setting sunlight, the town looked like the Amalfi coast of Italy, or something...just beautiful! We ate pomelo and drank delicious Vietnamese coffee, served with a little side glass of water (just like in Argentina and parts of Europe!) We worked on his website photos a bit, before heading back to Hanoi around 6pm. The drive down the mountain in the fading, but still extremely bright light made me remark that Vietnam may perhaps be the most beautiful country that I have ever been to (that means a lot coming from someone who lived in Thailand for a year!) Then this great big red sun set behind the mountains. The pictures I have really don't do it justice, but it was drop dead gorgeous. As we came down the mountain, it turned from chilly to warm again. Perfect end to a perfect day.
10 out of 10 :)!
Stone and I stopped on the highway out of Hanoi so that he could buy fake
Lacoste shoes. However, the asking price of $7 was too steep for now ;)
Rice paddies bordering the highways leading out of Hanoi
Rice (not as beautiful as in some places, but still neat, and
different for me to see the workers in conical hats!)
Shoe stop #2
$7 seemed to be the going rate, so Stone bought some new
shoes, put them on, and left his old ones right there :)
Our first flat tire
(Notice the woman in the conical hat in front who rode past us haha)
Stone left me alone on this beautiful country road
when we got our second flat tire!
I was a bit anxious that I wouldn't be able to find him,
but it was beautiful, so I was happy. Adventure!
When I found Stone, he was drinking tea.
I was very happy to see him!
The kind shop owner fixing the tire in the village
At the entrance to the Buddhist Training Center!
The mountains and clean air...Ahhh!
At the steps to the entrance :)
Wowza
So, so beautiful
Chinese looking, right?
Me!
A rare banana plant with pink flowers!
The monks and nuns in-training lining up for their 1130am lunch
The real monks coming down for lunch
(Notice the nun at left "wai-ing" them)
So, so amazing!!!
I will always remember this :)
The conical hats signify Vietnamese monks!
Lunch was buffet style, and vegetarian
At the nun-in-training lunch table
This woman wanted me to take her picture haha
So isolated and peaceful and perfect for a Buddhist center :)
Washing dishes after lunch
Stone!
Buddha
(Many Vietnamese are not Buddhist...many are
Taoist or Confucianist so it's very interesting)
On the drive down
Some cool pillars
"Stepping stones" at the entrance to Tam Dao National Park
This rooster was the largest rooster I have ever seen.
You can't really tell- but look at the size of the wheel!
Bees!
Trees!
Stone on some stepping "stones" hehe!
Cool spider
I'm in the jungle!
Jarred snakes...used for potions and remedies!
Centipedes (poisonous)
This would never happen in America hahaha
An easy way to kill yourself
The hill tribe people we met...who wanted me to try
carrying their 35kg of sand!
I could not do it.
Smiley man :)
Not only were they barefoot and carrying half of my body weight,
but they were still walking faster up the mountain than me!!!
Skull signs in Vietnamese that I can't understand are funny
Up the mountain, just to drop off a little bit of sand.
Little by little. Wow, I was so impressed. (And still am!)
Killer bees!
The coolest part about this killer bees photo is that
I ate them for dinner. With soy sauce.
(The next day ;))
Wild bananas!
Wild pig!
I didn't take a picture of it's butt. Just it's tail to
prove that pigs really do have curly tails!
Sooo intense...
A shrine we came across along the way
The temple at the top of the mountain!
The "Mother" dance
Men changing her costume, and headdress
Dancing with candles and fire
Jungle flower
The gondola down :)
I was so happy!
Our two new soldier friends!
Cool shot with the background, too
So beautiful
Considering that our two countries were at a deadly war
40 some years ago, it's almost unbelievable how times have changed.
Me and Stone!
Me!
The soldiers walking away, with the jungle in the background.
Feeling NO pain!
The coolest "ladder" tree ever :)
Buying a 5000 dong (25 cent) pomelo
Peanuts drying on the road
A sign advertising "Cho," or dog
Crushing cans by running over them with a truck.
I want to try!
Driving to the mountain side town of Tam Dao
So beautiful...
I will always remember the way the light felt on this day.
Our coffee and water!
Stone on his computer haha
My coffee came with it's own filter. It was SO delicious.
A random Spice Girls table in the mountains of Northern Vietnam?!
Stone and I on his motorbike
We'll upload these to TripAdvisor, I hope!
The setting sun was the finale
The cool drive down, with the red glowing sun
Highway view...gahh I am in love!
Most beautiful country I have ever been to.
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