August 9

We arrived in Hanoiabout 3 p .m and were picked up by a rep from the tour company that Bill hadarranged on line prior to leaving Mexico. I had no idea what to expect but, unlike Bangkok and, to a lesserdegree, Laos, I finally felt like we were in a totally foreign country. I was immediately smitten with Hanoi. Again, unlike Bangkok and Laos, with theexception of the temples and ruins, the architecture was very distinct and there were bright greenrice paddies everywhere, right in the middle of this urban city. Almost all of the homes were very skinny and tall due to the fact, according to our guide,that land values were very expensive and this was the only style of home thatwas affordable as it was cheap to build up. These funny tall, colorful, skinnyhomes were a feast for my eyes after the concrete and 50's feel of Bangkok.

As we entered the city, the guide pointed out what is knownas the Hanoi Ceramic Road. Work on thisbeautiful mural that bordered the highway began in 2007 and was completed in2010 to commemorate the Millennial Anniversary of Hanoi in October, 2010 . It represented the decorative patterns fromdifferent periods in the history of Vietnam and also incorporated modern artwork, paintings of Hanoi and children’s drawings in this four mile wall. As a point of interest, on October 5, 2010the mural was awarded a Guinness World Records certificate as being the world’slargest ceramic mosaic.

The hotel where we would be staying during a portion of our
10 days in Vietnam was right in the heart of the old town. The chaos, traffic and humanity were just as
intense as Bangkok had been but was exhilarating due to the enchanting
surroundings. I was really glad that we
would be staying on in Hanoi for five more days after our excursion so we could
explore the city.

Our tour would begin at 7:30 that evening when we would take
the overnight train to a station near Sapa and then would drive a few hours to
this mountain town where we would spend the next two days. We had just enough time to put together a
satchel of clothes and grab a bite to eat at a little hole in the wall
restaurant where we paid a whopping $4.00 for the two of us.

The overnight train was a bit different from the one that we
had taken to Laos as we had, unexpected, roommates in our little cubby. Fortunately, they were a lovely older couple
from Switzerland who spoke little English and were quiet enough. I can’t say the same for the other passengers
in our car that partied very loudly almost all night. Consequently, by the time we arrived at the
station at 5:30 in the morning, we were pretty exhausted.

August 10

We were fully expecting that we would be part of a group of
people on this tour that Bill had arranged so, when we were picked up by our
guide, Zang, whose nickname, he informed us, was Tiger, we were totally
delighted to discover that it would be just the two of us, Tiger and the
driver. We couldn’t have asked for a
better guide as Tiger was wonderful, spoke relatively good English, and was very
knowledgeable and patient. The next two
days would prove to be magical.

As tired as we were, the hour and a half drive from the
train station to Sapa, an elevation of about 5,000 feet, kept us wide
awake. If there were such a thing as a
national sound of Vietnam, it would, undoubtedly, be the honking of a
horn. As we drove through the
spectacular scenery up the winding road to Sapa, it seemed as though all the
moving vehicles… trucks, buses, cars, motorbikes…were constantly passing one another….most
of the time without being able to see if there was another vehicle coming
toward them once they’d made their pass. 
And, all this was done with the accompaniment of the nonstop honking of
their horns. It was quite an experience
of awe, at the verdant hills of terraced rice paddies and rushing streams, along
with the terrifying thought of a major head on accident.

We arrived safely at about 7:30 a.m., thanks to the expert abilities of our
driver, and settled into a lovely room at the hotel where we would be spending
the night.