A week in Vietnam

After Hanoi we made for Halong Bay, a few hours east of the capital.  The scenery here is gorgeous with 100s of limestone karsts jutting out water.  We arrived in the early afternoon on Cat Ba Island, where we rented a moped and rode throughout the island, visiting a secluded beach and a cave that was turned into an elaborate hospital by the Vietnamese during the War. 

We then made plans for the rest of our time in the Bay.  Pretty much every hotel and travel agent offers the same handful of tours -- sailing the waters, visiting the same karsts, etc., often with bad food, cramped conditions, and even rats on the boat.  So, it was worth it to us to seek out one of the few travel agents that offers personalized tours.  We ended up chartering a boat with a couple from Montreal (no, not Jonny and Ariella).  It was great.  We were brought to secluded areas without other tour boats.  They brought us to a cave, where we kayaked in.  At first it was a little scary paddling into the darkness.  But our eyes soon adjusted and before long we were through and in the largest lagoon we'd ever seen.  We went through a second cave into what we thought was the open bay again; we then realized that this was another, even larger lagoon that offered total seclusion.  The rest of the time we cruised the waters admiring the scenery.  The boat itself was great with a living/dining room, plus lots of great food and nice bedrooms.  Unfortunately, Alex got sick and wasn't able to enjoy it much (see below).

Our room was very nice and it's where Alex spent most of the trip

After Halong, we took a bus south to Hue (we were told it'd be a 10 hour overnight bus, but ended up being 16 hours!).  Unfortunately, our luck with the weather had run out.  This time of year is the rainy season in northern Vietnam, and rain it did.  So, despite the long bus ride, we ended up staying only a night there.  The city itself isn't charming, so the only real site-seeing we did was visiting the Imperial Enclosure, a huge complex where the emperor once lived.

Typical street scene in Hoi An

We then headed 4 hours further south to Hoi An.  We love it here.  This is one of our top three towns we've visited on this entire trip.  The rain persisted but only for about half of each day, and today is absolutely gorgeous.  The compact Old Town is situated on a harbor and is filled with neo-colonial French and traditional Asian architecture.  The town began the process of restoration in the 1990s and is now the most charming city in Vietnam, filled with shops, cafes, great restaurants, narrow residential lanes, and a large market.  We're staying at one of the few hotels located inside the Old Town; it doesn't have the facilities that similarly priced guesthouses have in the rest of the city, but the 180 year old house makes up for that with tons of character.  When not raining, we've spent our time walking around, eating (the food here is great with lots of local specialties), enjoying our small balcony, and shopping.  The town is most known for its tailors -- we put them to work having about a dozen tailor-made shirts, a trench coat, a formal dress, and a suit made between the two of us.  We bought some other things, as well, including a big purchase of a beautiful large painting done on lacquer wood.  Hopefully, all this stuff will soon be on a cargo ship en route to the U.S. 

Our hotel was right near the market

We are LOVING Vietnamese food.  Here we still manage to enjoy some cheap stall food in the rain.  It costs less than 2 dollars for us to eat.

This is the specific well that everyone in Hoi An uses to get water for the local specialty, cao lau.  It's a noodle dish with beef and greens, it's very cheap, very good, and Chris has had a lot of it.

Inside one of the old homes in Hoi An

A river view of Hoi An.  You can see the typical mustard-colored French colonial buildings.

It's a dragon face-off

So, the plan for the rest of Vietnam -- originally, we were going to cross into Laos from Hoi An; however, we've decided to keep heading south.  We were thinking of  taking a long-ass bus ride to Dalat, another charming town, this time located on a hilltop.  But we wanted to time our trip to spend Christmas in Ho Chi Minh City, aka Saigon, another 10 hours south from Dalat.  The timing didn't work unless we wanted to cut short Hoi An, so we're skipping Dalat and flying to Saigon tonight (thus skipping about 28 hours on a bus).  We've loved having all this time in Hoi An, are excited to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas in a 5-star hotel in Saigon, will then head south into the Mekong Delta, and cross over for a quick trip into Cambodia (since Alex has been dying to see the Angkor Wat temples).  From Cambodia, we'll go overland or fly to Laos.

Alex: Through this wonderful experience I got really sick. It started like a regular cold while volunteering: sniffles, sneezing, slight sore throat, occasional cough. Then I developed a blocked left ear which began to hurt. The night of the 15th I was struck with horrible chills then major sweating and the most violent cough I've ever had. It was like my body was rejecting itself. Lots of wheezing, couldn't lie down, and I was coughing up lots of phlegm with some blood in it. The next morning we were scheduled to take the overnight boat, we'd already paid for it, and I was feeling a bit better although my ribcage and chest were so sore it hurt to breathe. I took it easy on the boat and felt okay until the evening. Again I had the violent, uncontrolable coughing fits, could only take short, shallow breaths, and added vomiting and a loss of apetite to the mix. Now I was getting scared because I didn't know what was wrong. I spent our 2nd day on the boat in the room. It was still 2 days until we'd be in a town with an English-speaking doctor. So when we returned from the boat Chris bought me some antibiotics and we boarded our 16-hour overnight bus to Hue. I did okay and slept more than I thought (which I hadn't been able to do lately since lying down made me cough). I spent the 1st day/night in Hue in the room, missing sight-seeing, to recover a bit. The next day I ventured out into the rain to see the Imperial Enclosure. On our bus to Hoi An I got major chills again, even though everyone else was hot, and could tell my face was burning up. I started to see blood in my phlegm again. We went to the doctor right after dropping our stuff at the hotel. It was 7pm and he came from home to see me. I had a fever of 103.6 (!) and what he thinks is bronchitis. It had been 4 days since it started. He prescribed 5 medications which have helped a ton but I'm still recovering. The ears haven't changed so I might need to see him again because I can't hear.  It was scary to be sick and not know what's wrong in a 3rd-world country where you don't know where the next quality (and English speaking) doctor will be.