walking Hanoi + the Temple of Literature

Hanoi, Vietnam. to me -- it's the golden yellow buildings with green trim, bundles and bundles of electrical wires running overhead, a flood of scooters rushing by, and eating a steaming bowl of pho on the side of the street while sitting on a plastic stool so tiny that your knees are in your ears.

between all the trekking and cruising we did in Vietnam, we based ourselves in the city of Hanoi. we stayed in the gorgeous Old Quarter and spent several days wandering the streets and shops by ourselves. but on our last full day in Vietnam, we booked a walking tour of the city to be sure we saw everything Hanoi had to offer.

our guide let us pick and choose which sights on the itinerary we wanted to see. [which was great, rather than waste time being dragged to things that weren't of interest to us.] we started off at the Ho Chi Minh complex, walking past the mausoleum and presidential palace. in truth -- we didn't spend much time here. lines for the famous One Pillar Pagoda were insane so we just breezed past that as well.

at this point in our trip, we were all pretty exhausted. I would recommend taking a tour at the start of your time in Hanoi [which we had attempted to do but were foiled by the weather.] it wasn't much better on the day we did our tour -- it was alternating between blazing hot and torrential downpour, and we were all dripping sweat. but there was one place we very specifically wanted to see: the Temple of Literature.

the Temple of Literature is set in a sprawling green space, a welcome relief from the grimy concrete streets of Hanoi. it was familiar -- I've been to many Confucian temples in Taiwan -- but still foreign. sadly, the temple is not filled with books a la a mega "Beauty and the Beast" style library collection. but it is the site of Vietnam's first university, and many students and scholars still come here to pray.

our guide took us through the temple, explaining the history and significance of all the buildings and courtyards... and I'm sad to say I barely remember a thing about it. one of the problems with not blogging "in the moment" is that you tend to forget so many of the little details of what you see.

but what I do remember: the feeling of being in this place. it was peaceful, intellectual, and a lovely break from the chaos of the city.

I remember touching the belly and feet of the statue above, as thousands of visitors do. I remember our guide telling us about the four holy beasts in Vietnamese culture -- the dragon, the tortoise, the unicorn, and the phoenix [the last of which our guide was named after.] and I remember buying some kind of sweet rice cake snack from a lady selling them on the street outside the temple.

it's true that I could google the info on this temple for you -- give you the guidebook highlights. but maybe, the details aren't always so important.

eventually we left the Temple of Literature for the chaos of Hanoi outside it's walls. there was more rain, hordes of scooters, and even egg coffee at the famous Giang Cafe in the Old Quarter. but my favorite memory of the tour was our peaceful wanderings through the gardens of the temple... even if I'm sketchy on the details.

linking up with Lauren on Location, Snow in Tromso, The Sunny Side of This and What a Wonderful World for #wanderfulwednesday

cruising + kayaking in Ha Long Bay

Ha Long Bay is one of those places you have to see to believe. limestone giants draped with green vegetation rise out of blue seas, so plentiful they look like layers of mountains on the horizon. junk boats and fishing skiffs and kayak tours float along together by day, while a flock of squid boats appears from nowhere to light up the night.

last summer, I spent 3 days and 2 nights cruising Ha Long Bay while traveling through Vietnam. to be honest -- I feel the need to preface this post with a disclaimer. I am not a cruise person. I like being in control of my itinerary, my activities, and my menu when I travel. having a list of pre-arranged and not exactly optional excursions rubbed me a bit wrong. but. booking a cruise is the most efficient way to see Ha Long [unless, I suppose, you've got the cash to charter your own boat. I don't.]

that's not to knock our cruise -- everyone at the Indochina Junk office and aboard the Dragon Legend were helpful and attentive. our "junk boat" was not in any way junky, and the staff was extremely patient when dealing with my numerous food allergies. I'm just... not a cruise person. however, I chose to ham it up and do all the activities and ended up enjoying myself well enough.

[ for more details about my trip, check out my Vietnam travel guide + 10 day itinerary ]

this was my first time on a cruise. it was all-inclusive [except for the alcohol] and everything was planned out ahead of time. all we had to do was float along and enjoy the ride. after our trek through Sapa -- well, that sounded like a nice relaxing few days [no matter my cruise prejudice.] I pictured lounging on the sun deck, reading my book in peace, with some kind of tropical concoction to keep me cool.

the weather had other ideas. the sky was grey and hazy. it was sweltering hot, without even an ocean breeze to bring relief. in part, that's why I have so few photos from our cruise. and what I do have is a mash of shots from my camera, my phone, and my friend's waterproof camera. because [despite the heat and the occasional tropical downpour] we still went on two kayak excursions, a hike to a cave, a tour of a floating village, and a beach barbecue.

I know these photos make our kayak tours look pretty incredible. and they were -- even the part where we went through a dark sea cave with so little headspace we had to do the limbo in our kayak.

but what you don't see are the currents of trash our guide had to navigate us around. the water in Ha Long Bay... was filthy. in part, because a huge storm had blown by a few days before our cruise and caused debris from elsewhere to drift in. [also causing the windless and sweltering weather.] but some of the garbage in the water was just the pollution that has accumulated over time.

it was heartbreaking to see a blight like that in such a beautiful place, and to know humanity's part in the destruction.

the waters around the floating village that we toured were a little cleaner. each boat was armed with a net to scoop of bits of trash as we sailed along. but the difference was more than nets -- our guide explained that the cruise company was supporting eco-friendly tourism by bringing us there. the money that paid for our tour would go to help these fishing villages build more sustainable homes [floating on plastic barrels rather than styrofoam blocks.] our cruise ship would collect the garbage from the village and bring it to the mainland to be disposed of, rather than letting it drift out to sea.

it may not be much in the grand scheme of things -- only a drop in the ocean of the earth's problems -- but it made me feel better to know that in a small way, we were helping.

Ha Long Bay was beautiful. perhaps I should just leave it at that.

but the weather, the pollution, and the fact that I got wretchedly ill after our cruise have definitely given me mixed emotions about my experience there. so I'm having trouble finding the right words to end this post.

I always try to be honest about my travels. there are too many people out there who shine up their words and sell you the pinterest-perfect "ultimate" experience. [and at times I'm sure I've been guilty of that as well.] but there's never any guarantee that your encounter with a place will be the match of anyone else's. I think that each of us connect to a destination in our own way. and while Ha Long Bay was a beautiful place, it just wasn't my place.

but maybe... it might be yours.