Around Vietnam

Taken near sunset on Halong Bay, the sun looks like it is burning through the karst.

I was lucky enough to stay at a fairly secluded island in Halong Bay, Monkey Island. I climbed to the highest point on the karst formation to take this picture. My bungalow is one of the smaller ones to the left.

For whatever reason, Halong Bay was a fantastic location for pictures of the sky. You can see the sun hidden behind a cloud discus, and miraculously my little point and shoot camera picked up some of the brilliance of colors emanating from the merger.

Halong Bay has thousands of tourists, hundreds of boats to move them around, and dozens of small time vendors selling Oreos and beer. I saw more Oreos and Ritz (both Kraft) in Vietnam than any other American products.

Part of the typical Halong Bay tourist package includes a night on a boat. With low expectations, I reluctantly caved into the practicality of working with a tour agency. Here I am having a great time, jumping off the boat's top level as the sun sets.

I love this picture because it looks so fake! The camera is obviously focused on the background while I appear blurred. It seems to create a visual effect that the background, Halong Bay, is a poster hanging on the wall behind me...or, that my figure is nothing more than a cardboard cutout.

A fellow American at the US Embassy told me where the best view of Hanoi can be seen. I went and took this picture. The body of water to the left, Trúc Bạch Lake, is where Senator John McCain landed in his parachute several decades ago.

Taken in Hanoi's Hoa Lo Prison Museum, this poster brags about American aircrew captured. The museum is full of similar displays, matched only in number by propaganda pieces proclaiming how well American Prisoners of War were treated. It's enough to make any red-blooded American pissed.

Vietnam War POW rules.

I don't know what makes my blood boil more, seeing the ridiculously staged propaganda nonsense and knowing that the truth is the polar opposite, or hearing other Westerners make comments about how well American POWs were treated. I started calling them Jane Fondas.

Tunnels are everywhere in Vietnam, from the Cu Chi tunnels near Ho Chi Minh, to the Vinh Moc tunnels in middle Vietnam, to the Kinh Thien Palace in central Hanoi. All have small sections open to the public. This picture shows a very well maintained tunnel complex running several stories underground, and was used by military and political leadership for strategy sessions.

Another war museum in Hanoi shows more of their war trophies. Of course, they don't tell the fates of the servicemen who operated this equipment.

This is Ba Dinh Square and Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum. The entire structure, a national treasure, is complex and heavily guarded. I was unable to see Ho Chi Minh's body because it was in Russia undergoing annual maintenance.

A flower seen near Love Waterfall in the amazing and mountainous NW region of Vietnam.

Trails in the mountains and to villages are narrow and unrefined. Motorbikes can cover much of the terrain, though. While motoring along the more distant trails, I was stopped in my tracks by pigs, cows, water buffalo, ducks, dogs, and people.

My $5/night hotel in Sa Pa rented their brand new motorcycle to me. I'll never rent new again (but that's another story). Here I consider whether to proceed on foot or bike. What do you think I did?

These H'Mong women work throughout the day, making clothing, while also selling them. They work the thread on their long walks into town, all while carrying bagpacks full of products for sale. Behind them are motorcycles for rent, and a sign for hairdressing, shave, and massage.

Cat Cat is a village in NW Vietnam. The beauty is unmatched with anyplace I've ever been. The unfinished building to the left is the filming location for the Amazing View video. As I rode a motorbike throughout the region, I saw countless fairytale-like vistas. Should I ever return to Vietnam, seeing this region again will be the reason!

Many H'Mong women selling clothing and jewelry in the mountain villages have hands stained a blue-green color. It comes from the indigo dye used on traditional clothing.

This little girl who was happy to have her picture taken is completely oblivious to the booger running down her face! I saw more kids like this, with snot coming out of one nostril, that I started to develop a theory. Maybe H'Mong are genetically predisposed to having deviated nasal septums? It's something for a serious scientist to investigate. In any case, if you ever read anything of the kind, remember you heard it here first!

Though difficult to see, these are live frogs! The guy on the motorbike bought some for dinner. The frogs are tied up by a leg (look at the top frog). Please don't tell PETA!

H'Mong women trekking up the hill.

A couple kids playing near the side of a tiny mountain road, near a tiny village.

If you look like a tourist, have a friendly expression, and are willing to talk, this is what happens! Anyone who thinks communism is alive and well in Vietnam hasn't been. One hotel owner told me regarding progressiveness and capitalism, "The people are so far ahead that the government can't keep up!" Take a look at their shoes, too. Many of these women and girls walk 2-3 hours each way on steep rocky roads every day to sell their handicrafts. No wonder they are grateful when offered a ride home on a motorbike. I didn't buy much from them, but I much enjoyed being their free taxi driver!

All of Vietnam's distance roadsigns, from Phu Quoc Island to Sa Pa, look like this one. They are stone tablets, mostly with weathered paintjobs, on the side of the road.

Scarecrows in the rice paddies.

A little bundle of flowers.

Silver Waterfall, one of the most famous in Vietnam.

A Dao woman in Sa Pa selling handicrafts invited me for lunch at her house in neighboring Tả Phình village. I accepted and took a 20 minute motorbike ride there the next day. The same journey takes her over two hours of steep walking. While the food was cooking, I stepped outside to look around the house and snapped this picture of a mixed fuels (to include bamboo) firewood stack. All houses in this region have open fires inside. Imagine a campfire in your living room!

A butterfly on the path to Love Waterfall in NW Vietnam.

Taking an overnight train ride from Hanoi to Loi Cai costs $16-$25 if you want the top of the line service. I like air conditioning and a soft bed when trying to sleep, so I went for the best Vietnam has to offer. This is it.

If there's one thing I've done consistently while traveling, it is getting lost. I leave the hotel without a compass, watch, map, or GPS. I intentionally take the less traveled roads. In this picture, I am returning from My Son, a famous World Heritage site of ancient civilization. When I came to this bamboo bridge on my return, I knew I was definitely lost. Time to get from hotel to My Son--1.5 hours. Time to get from My Son to hotel--4.5 hours. Tourists seen while lost--ZERO.

At the time, it seemed like a perfectly good idea to ride across this bamboo bridge, held together with rubber inner tubes and thin wiring, on a motorbike.

After a long day in the sun, I returned to the tailor to try on the shirt that I ordered only 24 hours prior. It fit! I picked the fabric, the collar, sleeve length, and cut of the bottom. Hoi An tailors are so good that you can bring a picture of your favorite designer clothes, and they will have a fitted, quality replica to you in hours. The cost? Low. Shirts are about $10-15, pants $15-30, suits can be had for as low as $100, and dresses $20 and up.

Near the fast growing beach town of Mui Ne are sand dunes. Overly aggressive little kids, like the one in the picture, try to convince tourists to rent little plastic sleds for surfing the sandy slopes.

Mui Ne has nice, but eroding beaches. The winds are perfect for wind and kite surfing. At the far end, traditional fishermen dock their boats.

Mui Ne's rapid growth is evident driving towards the coast. It is only a matter of months before these cows are pushed further inland, replaced by hotels and concrete paradise.

This huge Buddha on the hillside overlooking Đà Nẵng is giving the A-okay sign.

Đà Nẵng.

Occasionally, I have individuals or groups express great interest in me. Normally I'm highly suspicious, but it's hard when an entire family wants nothing more than to have a "family picture" taken with me in it. I have no idea who these people are, but they were really excited and had one of the real family members operate the cameras! Why are so many of them looking off to the side?

On the drive from Hoi An to My Son, I pulled my motorbike over to get a snap of this student mob going to lunch (it was noon) on bicycles. It looks like the dress code doesn't include headwear, as you can see a variety of ballcaps.

Just outside of Hoi An, I was very careful to ride along the sliver of road uncovered by rice. Not one minute after taking this picture, a huge dumptruck went rolling over it. You can see the many tire tracks. This rice will probably end up being bagged and making its way to your local grocery store. Rinse before cooking!

Phú Quốc island is Vietnam's largest. Though slowly developing, it is undeniably a future luxury haven. Word has it that Vietnam plans to make the island a special economic area, bureaucratically free from traditional tourism and commerce strangleholds, and not unlike China's Hong Kong and Macau. In other words, it's going to be a cash cow, most likely complete with casinos. In the meantime, you can enjoy bungalows like the one I stayed in (pictured), for $5 night.

Phu Quoc Island has many years of development before it becomes the Macau of SE Asia.

These plants, being dried on the road, will eventually be dyed, then woven into strong, colorful floormats and other products.

Very often in the rural areas, I'd see roads lined with food and plants being sun dried for processing.

When school lets out, all the "soccer moms" que it up to pick up the kids on their scooters.

Two women completing a "Money for Melons" transaction, unsubsidized by the government, that will inevitably stimulate the local economy and environment through job growth and carbon offsets via increased melon production.Whew!

To get to the early morning floating markets of the Mekong Delta, I had to get up well before sunrise. This was one of only a very few days I've woken before sunrise in the past three months. Luckily, my reward was an incredible sunrise with pink skies.

On the Mekong Delta, dozens of boats converge, creating a "floating market."

Bamboo poles with items for sale hang on boats in the floating market. This makes finding a specific fruit or vegetable very convenient.

The majority of boat drivers, buyers, and sellers on the floating market are women. Men could often be seen napping on Hamocks on the bigger boats, obviously after doing the hard work! Ha!

This was the first time I'd ever seen a floating backhoe. This big Caterpillar helps clear the debris and groom the marketplace routes in the shallow, soft Mekong Delta.

Most houses along the delta are constructed with inexpensive scrap that serves only as shelter from nature's elements.

The floating market has many sole proprietors. Notice the color of the water. Before sunrise, many of the people living on the delta could be seen bathing, washing clothes, and brushing their teeth using this very water. Makes you feel fortunate to be born in a country where water is taken for granted, doesn't it?