Sapa to Hue

Spent our second day in Sapa exploring more of the villages in the north west of Vietnam plus some of the surrounding scenery. Particularly enjoyed Ta Phan village - home of the Red Dao people. These people spend their days trying to sell vegetables and handicrafts, yet the road through the village is made of pure, natural marble! Perhaps they'll be discovered by the next Michelangelo and will go the same way as Carrara...

Up early the next morning for our day train back to Hanoi. Most people opt for the night train between Hanoi and Sapa in both directions (a great idea if time is of the essence), but we chose to do the night train up and the day train back - to maximize the sightseeing opportunity. As opposed to the night train, the day train is not full of tourists, but instead is very much a local experience. We had a great time (for 11 hours!!!) sitting with the Vietnamese people, sharing food and trying ever so hard to understand each other...

Arrived in Hanoi quite late in the evening and so spent the next day exploring our immediate surroundings (the Old Quarter). This is the Vietnam everyone dreams of - conical hats everywhere - cyclos, ladies with baskets of vegetables, stall after stall of pig, chicken, and every other kind of meat one could imagine...

Spent the next day at Halong Bay - absolutely beautiful. Despite being on the tourist trail, we found the bay very peaceful and certainly something to see. We were lucky enough to have the huge junk to ourselves which added to the solitude.

The following day was a little different - two destinations (Tam Coc and Van Long) both featuring the same sort of limestone karsts which jut out above Halong Bay - however these karsts rise majestically above rice paddies. Transport in both places is a small canoe, rowed through the paddies by a local woman. In Tam Coc, the lady rows with her feet! In Van Long the waterways through the rice paddies are so shallow, the rower shifts between rowing and punting. Relatively undiscovered, these destinations make for rewarding days out of the city. The weather was a little drizzly (the first rain we've encountered so far), but nothing a couple of $1 conical hats and 50cent ponchos from the local market couldn't fix!

Spent our final day in Hanoi exploring local sights - Ho Chi Minh mausoleum (Uncle Ho lying there for all to see), the Temple of Literature (dedicated to Confucius) and the Hoa Loa Prison (also known as the Hanoi Hilton by American POWs) - quite confronting. Found a street lined with optometrists who can read your prescription from your current glasses and make up new specs within an hour! We both had new pairs made for around $40 each - and they're perfect! Attended an Easter Sunday service at the Catholic cathedral in Hanoi - a very different experience. The Mass was sung in Vietnamese. Standing room only with people spilling out onto the plaza in front of the cathedral. Tiny plastic stools are provided where possible to facilitate comfort...

Left Hanoi mid morning the next day and flew to Hue - our 'jumping off' point for the DMZ.

Spent our first afternoon in Hue exploring the Citadel. Built in the eart 1800s, this complex has known much destruction (particularly during the American/Vietnam War). Slowly, it is being rebuilt, but is certainly something to see in the meantime.

Tomorrow we had out of Hue to the DMZ - the Vinh Moc Tunnels and Khe Sanh. Can't wait!