HANOI - SEOUL - TOKYO - CALGARY!

With the prospect of a long haul home we are glad the hotel agree to let us stay in our room til 6pm before leaving at 8pm for the airport. It is sunny and hot, why could;t it be like this for the last 2 weeks?? Oh well, good for our last day here.
  We pack a bit, it's looking good really after almost 2 months on the road, not much extra in there. We grab a cab and are off to the pagoda on West Lake. We walk to Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum but don't join the making crowds going in to see him! It's a huge concrete edifice, well guarded by handsome guards in white uniforms with yards of gold tape and red braid. Tons of school groups are there, emerging from the tomb with their new Uncle Ho necklaces, boys & girls both.
  We pick up a black Ho T shirt for Mark, who has done airport driving duty back in Calgary. I wonder if he'll ever wear it? I bet son Steve would...
  We walk to the small, rather unkempt botanical gardens which also houses some poor animal and bird exhibits. It;s cheap and easy to find cabs here so it's back to the hotel, then next door to the tiny Ms. Dey's Bahn Mi stand, where Ted is determined to try one before he leaves Vietnam. We've heard about these famous Bahn Mi sandwiches, freshest warm French bread rolls stuffed with chicken pate, meat, veggies sauces, etc.  If Anthony Bourdain says they are the best....
  Ted declares it to the gourmet experience of his life, I have a meat stuffed dumpling with my last Bia Hanoi. We'll miss these lovely cheap beers...
  Ted decides he too would like an Uncle Ho T shirt so we walk all over hell's half acre trying to find one! Eventually I fork out $5 (Mark's was $4!)  and he's happy.
  Its good to have the room at the hotel to shower, relax and then up to Gourmet corner, the roof restaurant at our hotel, for light supper. My mocktail passion fruit mojito is outstanding - I should have been drinking thee before! Green papaya salad, crispy pork/shrimp spring rolls and crispy pancakes wraps was lots of food to get us off.
  We check out at 8pm, arrive at the airport to no lineup at the wonderful Asiana check-in counter,  where we are greeted by name! The service is what you would suppose they had flying back in the 60's when flying was an event. And I wasn't even wearing a hat!
  We are the only ones in the Asiana lounge at first, and enjoyed smoked salmon with a full dinner available if we wishes! at 11pm we fly to Seoul, it's only a 4 hour flight but big comfortable seats and serving dinner (not for me). After arriving at Seoul before to a massive crowd waiting to go through Security, and tight for time to make our next flight, this time there is no-one at Security and we are through very fast. It's a 4 hour layover so I mostly slept in a massage chair. Seoul's Incheon airport is regarded as one of the top airports to spend time in but the food selection at the lounge was poor compared to what we had seen elsewhere and it was busy busy.
  It was only a 2hour 10 minute flight to Tokyo so a bit of a waste of the first class Asiana flight and light snack with them.
  Into the United Star Alliance found in Tokyo, it was the same story - not particularly attractive place to spend another 4 hours! I whiled away the time shopping for last minute souvenirs from Japan (cheery blossom candies, beautiful tins of green tea, etc.) and later nibbled on some sushi and nuts.
  At 4pm (late start) we settle into the comfortable Air Canada sleeper section (not as good a configuration as the Asiana sleepers). Air Canada has good reason for being voted the best NA airline - we had friendly efficient service, lovely dinner of smoked salmon salad, lamb, cheese and fruit and all the drinks you could handle. I finally watched "The Imitation Game" about the cracking of the enigma code, then slept the rest of the 10 hour flight. Ted prefers not to sleep but napped a few times apparently.
  We arrived back in Calgary early at 10:10pm which on our brain clock was somewhere else and  some other time...in SE Asia...
  Our dear friend Mark was there at the airport to pick us up and we were home tired at 11am ready to start on the big unpack, sort and WASH! Lunch was soup out of a can. I wonder if I am going to remember how to cook and clean now??
  Overall, a wonderful set of experiences - some amazing places - met some beautiful people - isn't that what travel is all about? - some challenges too. Did I say Ted is still having his rabies shots? He thinks the dogs who were running around and nipping at us in the Hmong village nipped him, so our health department recommended shots to be on the safe side!
  We didn't get sick, we didn't get robbed, we didn't have any negative experiences, and we have a far better appreciation for those people who came to Canada as "boat people" all those years ago and left that beautiful land for a better life somewhere else.
  

LAST FULL DAY IN HANOI

We return to our hotel Monday afternoon  to pack a bit and are now into our lovely executive suite there, a nice finish to the trip.
  Off down the crowded streets to Highway 6 the restaurant where we found the special award-wining Son Tinh fortified rice wine, rather like sake, but with fruit infusions, one port-like, and 27% alcohol! We will take a few small bottles home for sampling later (Rice wine, passion fruit, rose apple, apricot.) We took a bottle to Sapa and it was the one good thing in that cold room at times!
  We take a cab through the more upmarket part of Hanoi to the lovely French style house and "Madame Hien" restaurant across the lake. It's outdoor dining with lovely paper lanterns in the trees and an outdoor BBQ cooking station. Service is exemplary but notwithstanding that, Ted sends back his fish which is overcooked! He did warn them...We order wine for a change, a rose, which is nice and not too pricey.
  Duck 3 ways (rare roasted breast, crisp spring roll and satay with tamarind sauce was delicious. Ted's sea bass in lotus leaf was perfect the second time. Green tea cake (like bread pudding) wasted to order and served with green tea ice cream. After dinner we tried Mme. Tien's special rice liqueurs, one made from white rice, one from red (40% alcohol!)
  After all the recent travel, we were in bed by 10 and slept til 6am, very comfortable in our quiet suite, a good start to the flying ordeal coming up.

NIGHT TRAIN RETURN TO HANOI

On Sunday at 7:30 our guide takes a big bunch of tourists to the railway station, a short walk across the square, and we all head to the various carriages. We are booked on the Sapally carriage this time, a cut above our Fanxipan on the way up. We booked  berths for the 2 of us so we don't have to share. so don't feel we need to use our silk sleeping bags. We have a fancy plastic flower arrangement and bedside lamp here! They provide slippers to venture off to the good toilet and double sink at the end of the carriage, toothbrushes, washcloths and water.
  The neighbours keep up a noisy tirade for a while but I put on my eye shades and ear plugs and they soon fade away. I sleep til 5am when the guards walk through knocking on ur doors to wake us up. It's been a short night!
  We open our door and there is the smiling, friendly face of Anthony, our guide from the nice boutique Hanoi Elegance Diamond hotel with "Edward Foster" on his big card, ready to take our bags and get us back to our hotel in central Hanoi. He grabs a cab and in 10 minutes we are back at the hotel at 5:20am.
  The good thing about an early ride through the city is watching every out doing their morning exercises, Tai Chi walking, etc.
  The hotel allows us a room in the spa to shower and rest until our room is available. At 7:30 we are off to our sumptuous breakfast on the roof and greetings of welcome back from all the lovely staff there.
  By 8:30 we are ready for some tourist activities. So off to the interesting Hanoi History Museum in the beautiful French quarter, home of the opera house and many beautiful buildings. There a few visitors and it's a litany of propaganda but also an interesting summary of Vietnam's history.
  We get the cab to drop us on the lake close to our hotel and enjoy coffee and juice at the sidewalk waterside cafe and watch the action.  We stroll around to check on some restaurants Ted has heard about (and friends at the hotel have recommended) and book a table for our last night in Hanoi.
  We walk through the tourist upmarket shops (Prada, Gucci, etc.) this is the capital after all, and there's plenty of signs of affluence here. I resist buying even though we've acquired an extra all suitcase for Ted to take to Sapa. The small souvenirs we've bought will fit in there, with some shoes.

THE CHINESE BEHEMOTH TO THE NORTH...

After visiting the village, we descend to Lau Cai, a very busy transshipment area for goods coming in from the very commercial Chinese side of the Red River.
  Ah takes us to the overlook at the bridge to China. Ethnic groups can move across the border readily with special papers, but not a passport to anywhere else.
  There are massive lineups of huge trucks with sacks of something, maybe fertilizer (not opium I'm sure). there are groups of young, strong men who come here to make more money in a day than they can make in a month in their villages. There is, of course smuggling which is lucrative too. They can earn $15 a night to haul contraband.
  We are accosted by Vietnamese tourists keen to get foreigners in their photos at the overlook at the bridge. Tall white haired Ted is a big attraction and they all want their photos taken with him, me to so much!
  Ah finds a seller of the ice-cream like yogurt and tucks into a dish while we take photos and look at the simple type that people like to visit here too.
  You could walk over the river to China here, it's so shallow but I am sure you'd be shot on entry at the other side.
  Back through scenic farmland to Lau Cai, we settle in for a long hot wait at a restaurant which is also a hotel and one Australian has rented a room for a few hours there. We is it with the other tourist and guides, who look after fetching our railway tickets and escort us to our train later.
  Outside on the sidewalk one unlucky pig who has returned from market has got his head out of his bag and squeals incessantly for hours but nobody pays the lest attention, motorbikes parking right by his head, poor thing! He rolls off the curb which increases the decibel level of his squeals, but nobody tries to pull him in off the road!
  We learn there is a 5 hour fast bus back to Hanoi a double decker with sleeper seat, sounds comfortable all right but you get in at 11pm and we are happier to get at least some sleep.

SUNDAY AND THE FAMED BAC HA MARKET..

Ted wakes me at 6:30 for a quick pack, tiny poor breakfast and off at 7:45am with our English speaking Hmong guide - beautiful young lady about 20, mother of a 5 year old and 2 month old, whom she has had to leave at home while she travels with us! Also a young Hmong driver that she does not know that well so they enjoy visiting on our day out together too.
  We are all wrapped up in ski jackets to start, going down the mountain about 2000 ft and finding, oh joy, sun at the bottom in the dull city of Lau Cai. the sky clears but we still can't see Vietnam's highest mountain, Fanxipan.
  I stop the driver when I want to take photos which is great, but the roads are dangerous for stopping so I try to take shots through the car window. We have a 4 wheel drive vehicle which is great for some of the mountain roads. After over 2 hours we insist on a  stop for Ted to walk about. they buy a watermelon and it's good as it's now getting hot and we are peeling off layers. Eventually it gets to 82 and we are positively sweating! What a total change in 2 days.
  After Lau Cai, on the Chinese border with Yunnan, we are off up into the gorgeous scenic mountains again, though small villages weddings going on today, Sunday is popular for that. Everyone dressed in their best.
  Finally into BacHa market, the most famous and colourful in Vietnam now I think. It's huge with interesting sounds, smells and huge variety of Flower Hmong ethnic minority outfits. The buffalo market is interesting. We are told if the buffalo is put up for sale and does not sell, it is bad luck for the buffalo!! Some have their babies along. they are quite cute really and all very healthy and well fed.
  There are also piggies of every side, squealing away if they are taken from their pens or bags. Baby chickens, ducks, many puppies and - thrill for Ah our guide - rabbits. She decides to buy a baby rabbit for her young 11-year-old sister so we buy him, put him in a box with cabbage to eat and off we go. She also buys child, fresh peaches, just coming into season. She normally works with bigger groups and is delighted to be just with us.
  Ah is married but her husband i. s not working, but men do not help with the children either. When she treks she brings the baby with her! There are 1300 in her village, which has no power.
  On the nearly 3 hour journey we learn all about life in the ethnic area. We are full of questions and she is forthright in answering them. Marriage is an absolute must in this society, and girls are married at 14 or 15, although for other groups it is 17. Girls marry and go to their husband's family and can never inherit land or houses! Its a feudal society all right! There are still a few arranged marriages here.
  Driving arrow,d it looks like Switzerland with rice fields!
  The eis o village leader as such, the government runs everything from afar.
  At the market I am disappointed at the large commercial establishments selling the nice touristy articles but few of the women actually selling their own goods. I buy some small bags all the same. Many of the ethic minority women are selling produce and there is lively buying and selling. I only spot a few women with their babies on their backs or fronts, but still in their native dress.
  We stop at a nice restaurant for lunch. Oh joy they have very clean western toilets i.e. not squats, and although we are not very hungry in the heat, our driver and guide tuck earnestly into lunch. they are supposed to eat with the guides but are delighted to join us and order whatever they want from the menu.
  From there we go up to a village nearby and walk through. It is a poor looking place but they have animals and raise crops so are quite well off for the area. I have bought little books and pens also some toothbrushes and combs, which Ah loves to give out to people and kids we meet.
  It's a beautiful scenic trip for the day and makes up for the two lost days here!

SATURDAY - AND STILL CAN'T SEE SAPA...

It stayed fogged in all day Saturday,  more foggy cloud, not soaking rain. Power cut most of the day but we had got the room warm beforehand. Chat to our hotel neighbours from Germany, Israel, Singapore, some intend to trek no matter what. There are a lot of Vietnamese tourists here for the weekend, and after we walk up to the French bakery for coffee and chocolate croissants we see villagers setting up their wares on the edge of the road, so looking cold in their flip-flops and a few asleep on the sidewalk, exhausted from starting their day high i the mountains during the night o doubt. It's pretty heart wrenching to watch.
  In retrospect, this is where I should have shopped for small weavings but I decided to delay til we got to BacHa market next day.
  With no power, there is no ATM and Ted is worried about running out of cash now.
  Sapa is the centre of the Hoang Lien Son Mountain Nature Reserve with a great diversity of ethnic minorities: Kinh (Vietnamese), Hmong 50%, Dao 25%, Tay 5%, Giay 2%, Xa Pho. Sloping rice terraces cover the area. Staples are rice ad corn.It's sub tropical in summer, with temperate winters normally. They have 160 days a year of mist, but are home to many rare species of endemic flora and fauna.
  It's the last primary Vietnamese rain forest but lots of logging tells us that won't last long. It's the only source of fuel for many here. At the convergence of the world's 14 biomes, plants and animals are unique in the world. It's just south of the Chinese border and much development and commercial activity along the dividing river.
  At 3pm the power comes back so we turn our het to full blast and at 6pm head up the Little Sapa Restaurant. Only 3 of us there, we order in the dark with candles but later power comes back, goes off and comes back again. We visit with the young Dutch neighbours on their honeymoon, who are not put off by the weather and have been trekking all the same. Next day we meet them returning on the night train, it's a small world for tourists around here.
  Dinner is BBQ ribs, fish on a hotplate, and cabbage/wild mushroom dish.
  BTW wherever we are, even here, at 7:30am every day we get loud speaker propaganda messages from the government!
  We return early to take advantage of the fact that power is on to shower pack, watch CNN news and are in cosy bed by 10pm.