Vacation in Vietnam--Cuc Phuong National Park (11-3)

Sunday morning we were ready to head out on our three-day tour/trek in Cuc Phuong National Park. We were really looking forward to this part of our vacation—being out in nature and walking and staying in a village. We packed our things for the journey in our daypacks and left the rest at the guesthouse. After breakfast we took a short walk down the street and enjoyed meeting people who were starting their day. When we returned, our driver had arrived and off we went. Nam, the guesthouse owner’s son, was our tour guide. It took a little over an hour to arrive at the park.

Our first activity was an 8 km circuit trail through the forest to see the Ancient Tree, also known as the 1000-year-old tree. Nam explained that they don’t know its exact age; so they call it either of those names. 

The forest was lush and had a number of strangler figs. I kept thinking about the rain forest in Costa Rica, which is where I first encountered strangler figs.

The trail went uphill and then down; so walking the loop took us three hours. 

In the afternoon, we took the shorter walk to the Cave of Prehistoric Man. This was on higher ground, and we had to walk up a lot of stone steps to get there. 

There are several small shrines set up in the cave.

Next we went to the Endangered Primate Rescue Center. Nam could not go with us, as a local guide who knows about the animals is required by the park. The center is a home for langurs, gibbons, macaques,  and several other kinds of monkeys. All except the gibbons had extremely long tails. 

We saw several varieties in the cages. They are  apparently quite successful in breeding the animal, as we saw several babies. The second stage is a large open area—open captivity—where the animals are free/uncaged. Inside the fence is a ditch several feet wide so they cannot reach the fence, which is electrified, and get out. The guide said that animals can sometimes be seen near the path in the morning. Monkeys are rarely seen outside the center. Nam said he has been to the park about a thousand times and has only seen a monkey three times. After animals are used to being on their own, they are released into a national park far from this one. We wondered if it is the babies that are set up for the release program, but we didn’t think to ask about this until our guide had left.

We stayed in a bungalow at the hotel outside the headquarters. We had been told that we would stay in a cabin on the lake, but they were full. Nam cooked dinner for us. He learned to cook from his mother, and he learned very well. The hotel worked out well, as we had not taken books with us, thinking we wouldn’t have electricity in the night. The room had a TV; so I watched the educational station while Jackie slept. This is where I saw the program about the water puppets. Although it wasn’t in English, I could understand from the pictures. The hotel was also a lovely place to wake up in the morning and walk around the beautiful gardens.

Vacation in Vietnam--Hoa Lu and Tam Coc (11-2)

Saturday morning we were off to Ninh Binh. The hotel assistant manager had suggested that we book a “join-in” tour (a day tour that a number of people can join) to Hoa Lu and Tam Coc, which are near Ninh Binh, as our transportation to the city. This was an excellent idea, as we got to see the sites and arrive at our next destination all in one day.

We were the last of the twelve people to be picked up; so we headed out of the city immediately. Others had a “free city tour” while they picked all of us up. The ride was about two hours. We passed rice fields with small towns in the distance. A number of the fields had small grave sites in them. I tried to ask if these were very old cemeteries or new ones, but the guide didn’t understand the full question; so I don’t know, but they were interesting to see. We saw them again on the way to the national park.

Our first stop (other than the break) was Hoa Lu, the ancient (10^th century) capital of Vietnam. 

We visited the two temples to the kings during that time.

Lunch was next on the agenda. The guide told us that the restaurant where we were to eat didn’t have room for all of us; so some of us were taken to a neighboring restaurant. The food there wasn’t very good. Jackie talked to some people who ate at the other restaurant and said the food there was quite good; so we think we were at the overflow restaurant. After lunch we embarked on our trip down the river. The area is known for its beautiful scenery that includes karst mountains. Two people were in each boat, and we joined the line of boats going down the river and watched those returning. It’s a busy place, but it was still enjoyable. 

The women—and a few men—often row with their feet. 

We enjoyed the scenery and also enjoyed watching the people fishing in the river. 

The ride went through three caves under the hills. After the last cave, there were a number of boats with people selling food and drinks to the tourists. We were there for a while, as this was the turn-around point and traffic through the cave is one way. Sometimes we had to put our heads down when going through the caves. 

On the way back, the boats stopped and the oarswomen pulled out bags of embroidered goods to sell their passengers. Jackie told our woman we weren’t interested while I looked at the old graveyard we had stopped near. We didn’t like the idea of being pressured to buy something, which we would have felt if we had looked at the items.

After the boat trip, we had booked a bicycle ride. All we knew about it was that we would ride for a short time on flat ground. The alternative was to have time to walk around the area. As it turned out, the area where people waited was where we had lunch and the only things there were a number of shops. Two other people had booked the ride. The bicycles were not good quality; mine had only one brake and it wasn’t good. So it was good that the ride was easy. We rode along the road through rice fields with the mountains in the background. 

After 20 minutes we arrived at our destination: Bich Dong. This was a surprise, as we hadn’t realized that we had a specific destination. The German man turned back and did not join us to visit the pagoda, but our thought was that we were there and wanted to see it. So, the four of us (three tourists and our guide) went in. We learned that this is a 15^th century temple built into the mountain. Literally. 

Some of the buildings were in caves in the mountain. At one point, we walked up the stairs inside the mountain to get to the top. It was dark. 

At the top is a lovely view of the area; so we had to have photos taken. The tour of the temple was rather quick, since the rest of the group was waiting for us. We were gone a little over an hour.

Since we were staying in Ninh Binh, the guide and driver planned to take us to our guesthouse. We said we would take a taxi if they dropped us off where we could get one, but that wasn’t good enough service. Since the guesthouse is fairly new, the driver didn’t know where it was. I gave him the information. After a bit, he stopped and let us out. When I looked around, I didn’t think we were in the right place because it was on the main street and the guesthouse was a ten-minute walk from the main city. But when Jackie got out, she saw Nam holding a sign that said “Jackie,” which, of course worked for either of us. The driver had called the guesthouse and Nam was sent in a taxi to meet us and take us there. It was all so nice.

We loved Guesthouse Kim Lien right away. It is lovely and is on a quiet side street. I had decided that we could pay the extra $5 to have a room with a window, which was a good decision. The room was larger than other rooms, and we enjoyed having a window. In the end, Nam gave us the room for the lower price ($12 a night), which was really nice. We arranged to have dinner at the guesthouse and then settled into our room. Dinner was superb—delicious food and a lot of it. We joined a young Swiss woman who was the only other person eating in the dining room that night. It was fun to chat with her. 

Home Again (11-5)

I’ve been home for a week now after the week in Viet Nam and am pretty well settled back into my routine.

To conclude our holiday together, Jackie and I had half a day in Bangkok last Thursday. Since I learned that she likes reclining Buddhas, I suggested going to Wat Pho, home of the big reclining Buddha. We went to the central pier, planning to take a river boat up the river, but the boats were not running due to the high waters and flooding. So we took a taxi. 

On the way to the road to get a taxi, we stopped at the Chinese temple next to the BTS station. 

There an enthusiastic old man showed us around and clapped when I took photos. 

He took photos of us at a couple of the altars.

Jackie enjoyed the huge (46 meters long, 15 meters high) Buddha. It is spectacular. She also enjoyed the temple area around it, as I do. I’d been there in the spring but was happy to visit again. Since we missed lunch, we were ready to eat but decided to go to the food court at the Siam mall. This was a good choice. Jackie wanted som tom and pad Thai for her last Thai food in Thailand, and we found some that was quite good. I also bought a grilled salmon that was delicious. One of the things I like to do in Bangkok is buy bread to bring home. The bakery I usually go to in Central Mall now has a shop in Siam that is next to the food court; so we were able to purchase bread and eat at the same place.  

Since Jackie’s flight was at 6:00 AM Friday morning, we had agreed that she could take the hotel shuttle to the airport without me. But I did want to wake up with her at 3:30 for a last “good-bye.” Then I read and slept for an hour before I had to leave at 6:00 to get to Mochit for my bus home.  I was a little concerned about getting there from the BTS and about whether the buses were leaving from Mochit because I’d learned that the weekend market nearby was closed that weekend. But all went well. I picked up some bus snacks and more bread at the BTS station. At Mochit, I went to the 7-Eleven to get a drink and the shelves were almost empty. I wasn’t sure if people had been hanging out there for long times or if the distributors were not able to deliver (I’d seen signs at the hotel and at the BTS bread shop saying that their distributors were unable to deliver water to the hotel or goods to the shop.), but I was glad I’d purchased my snacks elsewhere.

The bus ride was 12 hours instead of 9. About half way to Ubon, there was an accident that took almost two hours to get to and around. A big truck full of cardboard for recycling had slipped off the road and overturned onto the road, covering one lane. I finished my book at the time when I should have arrived home. Fortunately, since I had a short night, I was able to sleep for an hour a couple times.

Saturday I unpacked my new possessions and gift items. This is always fun to do. I am really happy with everything I bought, which is always nice. I washed all the clothes and the backpacks. Most of the weekend was spent reading and looking at photos of the trip.

Monday I returned to school. I was not looking forward to this, but it was good to see my foreign teacher colleagues again. There were meetings for the other teachers, but we had been excused because they would be in Thai. We were told we could use the time to plan excellent lessons. I got my math unit planned. Before the holiday, I’d worked on planning English and some science. I got enough science finished to begin teaching this week. Since there was no food in the canteen because there were no students, we went to KFC for lunch (Kate and Lovely’s choice). It was fun to hang out with the group again. After eating, we shopped at Tesco a little. We noticed that some of the shelves were empty and had signs asking people to please be patient and explaining that some of the distributors are unable to travel due to the floods.

Monday was Halloween. When I moved, I found some Halloween napkins that had been sent to me. I put them with chocolate and enjoyed giving a small treat to my office mates, neighbors, and Bitoy.

Tuesday it was back to work full time, as students returned. However, Sister Viphaporn had meetings with all the students in sections; so I didn’t have two of my three classes. It took me only five minutes with the one 8^th grade class I did have to remember why I don’t enjoy teaching them. Fortunately, they were better the next time I saw them. And, fortunately, the 5^th, 6^th, and 7^th grade classes are usually OK and have more students who try to learn.

Friday there was a surprise field trip for 4^th through 9^th grade students. Sister Viphaporn told me about it when I went to do the word of the day in the morning and said I could go. They went to see an agricultural exhibition at a university. I think it was part of the king’s self-sufficiency project, as I went to something similar at Nam Tuam last year. Tony went with the students, but I decided to take advantage of the three hours of free time and plan the 7^th grade science unit. I was happy to have this time and got that work finished. In the afternoon, there was no club because students were practicing for the upcoming Sports Day at the end of the month. So I had two of my five classes that day.

As always after a break, it is good to have the first week finished and to be back in the swing of things. I find myself counting the months until the year is over. For the first time in my career, I woke up on the first day back to school thinking about why I don’t like teaching at this school. Fortunately, that stopped, but knowing that we are on the downhill side of the school year helps.

The two 7^th grade girls who failed my classes (the rest were boys) asked what they could do about their “0’s.” I had been told to prepare extra work for the failing students to do so they can “earn” a passing grade. My suggestion was to require that they come to a special class after school for a week for teach subject to do the work. If they take it home, they won’t do it; someone else will. So, for the next two weeks I’ll have several students completing extra work so they can have a passing grade, as it is required that all students pass. I do have a problem with this, as a few of the failing students do almost nothing in class and have an average of 20% to 30% for the term. This is not close to 50%, which they will get after doing a little work. Then they’ll probably go back to doing nothing in class. The two girls who were concerned do try to do the work; they’re just so far behind that they can’t do much of it well. I feel bad for them. Some of the boys have obvious learning disabilities or overall low ability (undiagnosed, of course) and are not able to learn a foreign language—or much else from what I hear. The girls may, too, but they’re very quiet and I don’t know much about them. The 8^th grade students who failed have not asked about their “0’s.”

Kate’s birthday was Thursday, and Tony and I took her and Lovely to lunch on Saturday for the occasion. She chose to eat at the Japanese restaurant in the mall, which was a good choice. The food was really delicious.

Saturday was the first meeting with the new group—two women and three girls. They just want to talk and have conversations. They are quite nice and all try to talk.

Weather is moving to the cold season. Rain has stopped and wind has come. This makes for good clothes drying. Temperatures are lower.

Vacation in Vietnam--Hanoi (11-1)

Jackie and I arrived in Hanoi at 8:45 AM Friday morning. I had arranged for the hotel to meet us there, which was a good decision. The drive from the airport to the hotel took an hour. On the trip, we got acquainted with Hanoi traffic. The city is full of motorcycles that drive everywhere. Cars and motorcycles honk often. Traffic moves without stopping. It flows like its own entity. We felt like we were taking our lives in our hands every time we crossed a street and had to always be alert and aware of the motorcycles weaving in and out whenever we walked anywhere. Some streets are called “walking streets” on the map. They were not as crowded as other streets, but the motorcycles were there. A guide we had the next day told us that Hanoi has 6 million people and 3 million motorcycles. We had no problem believing that. I did notice that all drivers wear a helmet and most passengers also had helmets, unlike here in Thailand.

Our hotel, formerly Hanoi Gecko 2 and now Sans Souci II, was a great place to stay. The staff members were extremely friendly and helpful. It is on a side street of the Old Quarter, which was nice, as it was away from the heavy, noisy traffic. They gave us a map of the Old Quarter that was extremely helpful. The young women recommended two places to eat, both of which we tried and enjoyed. After settling in and showering after our night on the bus, we were off to explore. 

We walked around a bit to see the area and take in the people and bicycles and motorcycles. 


 I enjoyed looking at the French-style buildings. Buildings are narrow on the sidewalk and long going back. I read that this was for tax purposes, as owners were taxed by the amount of road front they had.

Wiring was interesting!

Everything is carried on bicycles. They are ridden as well as being used as transport for carrying a variety of goods.

The loads carried on motorcycles are amazing. It is hard to imagine how they ride with such heavy, bulky items. .

After wandering a bit, we headed for the noodle shop recommended by the young woman at the hotel. It was closed; so we ate at one nearby. Jackie had the traditional pho noodles with beef. When I looked at it on someone’s plate, I knew I could not eat it. The woman offered soup, which was noodles in beef broth, and it was fine. Jackie said the noodles were slimy, which is how they looked. Too much beef flavor for me. We were seated at a table with two students on their lunch break. When they left, two young working women joined us. The place was full and seats filled up as soon as someone left.

After lunch we wandered down the streets toward the hotel. This took a couple hours, as we stopped to take photos and shop along the way. We both made some good purchases. Jackie is an extrovert who chats with almost everyone; so we met a lot of people. Most enjoyed having their photo taken and looking at it. Some said “no,” and we respected that. One young woman was selling shirts with hand-embroidered designs. Jackie was interested in one style, but she didn’t have one large enough with her. So she went somewhere and came back with a larger size. It wasn’t the design Jackie wanted; so she went back again to get the appropriate shirt. We both purchased shirts, which are lovely. While we were waiting, we chatted with a travel agent who was also delightful.

Many of the streets in the Old Quarter still follow the tradition of selling one type of goods. We were on the sewing goods street for a while. Stores had tons of buttons or yarn or fabric or other items used for sewing. 

In the evening, we were on shoe street, which was full of shops that had tons of shoes.

We walked past and into Quon Day Temple, an old Chinese-style temple that is listed on a brochure we got later as a Heritage Information Center. We chatted with the young woman who volunteers there. They have concerts there I think once a week.

At one corner, I noticed that Jackie had a pole with fruit baskets on her shoulder and was wearing a Vietnamese hat. While I was taking her photo, a woman put a pole on my shoulder and said she would take a picture. It all happened quickly; so there wasn’t time to think about it. Then the women demanded that we purchase fruit. Since they had put the poles on us without our agreement and since we didn’t want fruit, we didn’t buy it.

                                                                                                                                                           

When we walked past a bakery, Jackie noticed the women who were dressed in beautiful dresses and asked if she could take a photo. The woman she asked was happy to pose. Then her friend joined her. I walked in to see what they had in the bakery and didn’t see anything I wanted. As I walked out, one woman said to wait a moment. She then bought a cake to give me. As if that wasn’t enough, she bought one for each of us. So, we had two small cakes to take with us. This was a delightful surprise. We quickly decided that we would have a tea party at the hotel and invite the staff women and young man to join us.

It was great fun to share our cakes with them and they were delighted to be invited.

After the tea party, we headed out to purchase tickets for the water puppet show. We had planned to go at 5:30, but it was sold out. So we got tickets for the 8:00 show. Then we walked around the area and went to Ngoc San Temple on Hoan Kiem Lake. The lake is one of about twenty lakes in the city. The island the temple is on is connected to the lake by a lovely footbridge that was reflected in the water. Two wedding couples were there having photos taken.








Then it was time for dinner. We didn't want to go too far from the Water Puppet Theatre and had a hard time finding a place to eat. We finally saw one that Jackie had been given an advertisement about; so we went in. Reservations were recommended, but we were lucky they had a table that we could have until 8:00. No problem, as that was when the water puppet show was. We had a lovely and delicious French-style dinner. Actually, it was two appetizers, but they made a great meal for us.

The water puppet theater was really interesting. This is one of the “must do” things recommended in guide books, and it was worth it. Our hotel friend had recommended that we get the more expensive tickets so we could sit closer to the water stage; these cost $5; so that wasn’t a problem. The puppets sit on the water and are moved around. I had purchased one earlier and the women showed me how they are operated by pulling strings on the back. The next night I saw a documentary on TV that showed how they work. There is a bamboo screen in the building at the back of the water stage. Men stand in the waist-deep water behind the screen and use long poles to manipulate the strings inside the poles and to move the puppets around.

After the show, we headed back to the hotel but got misplaced a bit. Since we were tired and it was dark and late, we took a cyclo—a seat that is powered by a three-wheeled cycle. Before getting in a cyclo, you must negotiate the price. Since I knew we weren’t far from the hotel, I didn’t want to pay much. We negotiated a price that I’m sure was too high but was lower than the man initially stated. The trip took five minutes. When we arrived and I paid the man, he tried to take more than the negotiated price and not give me enough change but we were persistent in asking for the correct change and got it.

So, our day in Hanoi was full and interesting. It’s amazing how much we managed to do in our ten hours wandering around one small section of the Old Quarter.