Day 3: Hanoi sightseeing and night train to Lào Cai
Index
| Day 1 | Departure Oslo |
| Day 2 | To Hanoi |
| Day 3 | Hanoi sightseeing and night train to Lào Cai |
| Day 4 | Sapa: Mường Hoa Valley |
| Day 5 | Mường Hoa Valley to Nậm Cang |
| Day 6 | Sapa: Mường Hoa Valley |
| Day 7 | Fansipan climbing rest stop/station at 2800m |
| Day 8 | Mt. Fansipan – Bắc Hà |
| Day 9 | Bắc Hà |
| Day 10 | Bắc Hà to Hoàng Su Phì |
| Day 11 | Hà Giang |
| Day 12 | Back to Hanoi |
| Day 13 | Departure Hanoi |
Monday: I fell quickly asleep in my bed at the Babylon Grand Hotel, Hanoi, but woke up at 1am. It took me 4-5 hours before I could fall asleep again, which made getting up at 7am very, very hard. The tension headache was gone, but my stomach was not doing well at all. A solid constipation. But oh, well, it could always be worse.
After breakfast, the plan was to go for sightseeing in Hanoi and in the evening, we would take the night train to Lào Cai – where our mountain adventure would begin. Still not feeling on top of the world, I decided to take it hour by the hour and hope that things would improve.
The bus came and picked us up and Quyền was still our guide.
The Hanoi traffic was just crazy. In addition to cars and buses – a seemingly endless stream of motorbikes. The traffic seemed to work almost like a school of fish: thousands of individuals in an instinctive choreography, constantly adjusting to those around them.
Quyền tried to teach us how to get across a pedestrian crossing. While the cars and bikes in theory might be obligated to stop for pedestrians, this is just in theory. Personally, I found the best way was to adopt to the “school of fish” method and move across a street without forcing anyone to physically stop for me. That worked well. No one was interested in running me over. Too much paperwork on an otherwise busy day…
Vietnamese Women’s Museum
We began our sightseeing at the Vietnamese Women’s Museum.
The museum was opened in 1987, and the intention is to recognize the role the women had played in the nation’s historical development.
But my main takeaway was the incredible hardship these women suffered during the Vietnam war.
After a while, I started to lose a bit focus. I was tired after little sleep and this was a lot to take in, early in the day.
There was also a school class, on a guided tour. I was happy to see they wore school uniforms. At least, rich vs. poor as denoted through their clothes is one thing these kids don’t have to worry about in class.
I was surprised to see that the majority of the children wore glasses. I asked our guide about it. He blamed it on children spending too much time looking at phones and tablets. The real explanation appears to be somewhat more complicated, but nearsightedness is remarkably common among Vietnamese schoolchildren, particularly in urban areas, and research links it to extensive close-up work and insufficient time spent outdoors.
Hanoi’s female street vendors are a distinctive part of the cityscape, often cycling through the streets with astonishing quantities of flowers piled onto their bicycles. These mobile flower shops are an old and familiar feature of Hanoi, bringing seasonal flowers from growers and markets directly to customers throughout the city.
Eventually, our stay had come to an end and we returned to the bus.
Hỏa Lò Prison
Our next stop was “Hanoi Hilton”, as the American prisoners of the Vietnam war called it.
But the prison was originally used by the French colonists for political prisoners.
This was “dark matter”. I am not particularly interested in being reminded about the extent of human cruelty. I’ve heard my share over the years…
The political prisoners were forced to use open toilets in front of their fellow inmates, and during periods of punishment the latrines were reportedly not allowed to be emptied or cleaned. Remarkably, the prisoners turned even this to their advantage: political writings and other forbidden documents were sealed and hidden in the latrine containers, beyond the places where guards were likely to search.
What struck me most was the determination required to maintain a political and educational network under such appalling conditions. Hỏa Lò became not only a prison, but what the Vietnamese revolutionaries themselves came to regard as a “revolutionary school.”
More uplifting was the fact that people had actually managed to break out of this place, even if it is very difficult to imagine how they managed to crawl through the bars and the sewer pipelines.
So far, the day hadn’t exactly been uplifting, but history is important – even if it’s unpleasant…
After the guillotine, I was done. And I guess the others were too…
Temple of Literature – Văn Miếu–Quốc Tử Giám
Next, the bus took us to the Temple of Literature, built in 1070 – at the time when Olav 3. Kyrre was king of Norway.
At this point of the day, I was not receptive to any more information and just walked around and took pictures.
The black squirrel was the highlight of the tour…
And the trees were astonishing…
The temple was originally dedicated to Confucius in Hanoi but became the first national university (Quốc Tử Giám) in 1076.
The university was closed in 1779 and became an ordinary school.
The Khuê Văn Các pavilion is found on the 100,000 dong. Or maybe it is a temple. It was difficult to process all the information that came from the guide.
It was almost time for lunch. Just a quick stroll through the remaining parts of the premises.
Lunch was served at the Koto Van Mieu Restaurant, 35 Văn Miếu Street and next to the Temple of Literature. The food was excellent and we were hungry.
This was also a good time to get to know my fellow travellers a little bit better. Besides me, there were only two other guys – Odd and Carl (Kalle). Odd lives on Hareid, close to where I live. All in the group had travelled a lot, and several times on Hvitserk trips. My first impression that everybody was talking to everybody. There were no cliques in the group, although some knew each other well from before.
I also got to know our guide Anne-Kristin (Rolstad) a bit better. She has a wealth of experience from trips like this one and has several times guided bicycle tours in Vietnam.
Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum
After lunch, the bus took us to Ba Đình Square and the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, which opened in 1975.
Quyền told us about the former President and revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh.
This is quite a resting place – 32,000 square meters…
My mind was on Mt. Fansipan. Would I get to the top, or would the headache throw yet another curveball in my direction?
Time would tell. In the meantime, better to try to apply the “be here now” principle.
A little bit “down the road” is the Presidential Palace (Phủ Chủ tịch). It was built in 1900-1906 and was a French-colonial palace serving as venue for official state receptions. Ho Chi Minh refused to live in the palace, allegedly to stay closer to the common people. Stupid walls prevented any good views towards the building.
It was insanely hot. I was sweating like crazy. I just wanted to get out of this place.
Đồng Xuân Market
Our last stop for the day was the Đồng Xuân Market.
This is the largest and oldest historic covered market in Hanoi and is in the heart of the Old Quarter.
I felt like a fish out of water here. There was nothing that I possibly I wanted to buy, but the female part of the group seemed to be in heaven.
From the market, we would be walking back to the hotel.
Walking the streets of Hanoi primarily revolves around not being hit by a motorbike or a car…
I think our guide gave up on keeping the group together. There were just too many tempting stores – for some…
It is quite remarkable that a city this big can offer chaos and order at the same time.
Food was sold right off the pavement…
Life here seemed hard. Going abroad on vacation didn’t seem to be on the menu for the people living here. Every day is likely a battle for getting some income and feed the family. The gap between the observers and those being observed couldn’t be bigger…
It was a lot of take in and I would have to process it over the next few days. Life is clearly hard here, but are they happy?
The sightseeing part was over, and we returned to the hotel. We had two hours to ourselves before check-out at 6pm (extended for us) and dinner close to the hotel. Based on my GPS, we had walked more than 6km.
The dinner was nice. Yet another meal with one ingredient after the other being put on the table, with rice as the main attraction.
One of my lasting impressions of Vietnam was the remarkably short words. When a word threatened to become too long, there always seemed to be the option of inserting a space. This restaurant appeared to have taken the principle one step further: ME NU.
Night train to Lào Cai
After dinner, we were taken to the train station. We would be taking the night train to Lào Cai. I looked forward to that.
The logistics was for real. There were 13 heavy bags and 1 suitcase that had to be brought along on our journey in the northern part of Vietnam.
Our guide had reserved 4 compartments for us, 4 beds in each. Us guys got one for ourselves, while the women spread themselves across the other 3 compartments.
Everyone was looking forward to this train ride. It was now that our mountain adventure was beginning!
Departure time was 10pm. 27 minutes to go. Enough time to get organized.
On time, we left Hanoi…
Both Carl and Odd preferred the lower bunkbeds and I had no problems with taking the top one.
This was very nice. The only uncertainty was if the bananas, chips and water was for free or if we had to pay. We decided that it was probably for free.
I couldn’t remember the last time I took the night train. Probably when I was a very young man, either traveling Oslo – Bergen or Oslo – Trondheim. I like the rhythm of a train and I quickly fell asleep. But at 1am, the jet leg kicked in again and I was twisting and turning for the next 3 hours.
Being close to the air condition outlet, I started coughing. I had to use the tip of the Duvet cover as a protective mask. It was awkward, but it worked.
Around 4am, I fell asleep.
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