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Halong of the Rice Paddies
Silly me! With all my talk of pagodas, yesterday, I completely forgot to mention our visit to the Museum of Ethnology, which was very interesting. It included displays on the lifestyles and customs on all the different ethnic groups in Vietnam, with dioramas and little videos. They also had examples of the different clothes worn by these tribes, and it made me wish we'd arrived here earlier so we could have had time to go to Sapa and see some of these people.
Last night we dined in style, in a nice restaurant overlooking the lake. The food was good, and we tasted these little things that were some kind of rice paper strips wrapped around smoked fish... We have no idea what they were, but they were very good. There was also live music, which made us laugh. Not because of the music, which was very nice, but because of the two male musicians. The one playing the one-stringed violin looked to be having a very good time, and I could almost imagine him with an electric guitar in his hands; the other one was chubbier, and frowned down at his instrument as though the task at hand was the most important thing in the world.
Today we visited some temples and caves 2 hours outside of Hanoi. I laughed at M-P on the way there, because she was sleeping with her mouth open. She laughed at me on the way back, because I kept banging my head on the window.
The journey through the caves was by little boat, and I got dripped on my several stalactites. At the turn-around point, M-P and I encountered the most primitive toilets we've seen yet. These were squat-toilets, but just a bare concrete ramp with a trough beside it. You took a scoop of water from the trough and "flushed" it into the lake. We should have taken a picture.
During the boat ride, which was in what is described as the inland version of Halong Bay, we heard some diabolical laughter echoing among the mountains... and realised that it was a duck. More than one, in fact, and they all sounded psychotic. Then the guy in the boat behind us started laughing back at them!
Tomorrow, if all goes as planned, we will be off to Halong Bay. I just hope M-P will be okay, she hasn't had a very good time on the boats we've been in so far.
We bought plane tickets back to HCMC, so we'll be leaving Hanoi on the morning of the 1st, flying with Pacific Airlines. It's only a 2-hour flight, so we'll be back in HCMC in the afternoon, giving us ample time to do some last-minute shopping. Because we actually still have some money!
Last night we dined in style, in a nice restaurant overlooking the lake. The food was good, and we tasted these little things that were some kind of rice paper strips wrapped around smoked fish... We have no idea what they were, but they were very good. There was also live music, which made us laugh. Not because of the music, which was very nice, but because of the two male musicians. The one playing the one-stringed violin looked to be having a very good time, and I could almost imagine him with an electric guitar in his hands; the other one was chubbier, and frowned down at his instrument as though the task at hand was the most important thing in the world.
Today we visited some temples and caves 2 hours outside of Hanoi. I laughed at M-P on the way there, because she was sleeping with her mouth open. She laughed at me on the way back, because I kept banging my head on the window.
The journey through the caves was by little boat, and I got dripped on my several stalactites. At the turn-around point, M-P and I encountered the most primitive toilets we've seen yet. These were squat-toilets, but just a bare concrete ramp with a trough beside it. You took a scoop of water from the trough and "flushed" it into the lake. We should have taken a picture.
During the boat ride, which was in what is described as the inland version of Halong Bay, we heard some diabolical laughter echoing among the mountains... and realised that it was a duck. More than one, in fact, and they all sounded psychotic. Then the guy in the boat behind us started laughing back at them!
Tomorrow, if all goes as planned, we will be off to Halong Bay. I just hope M-P will be okay, she hasn't had a very good time on the boats we've been in so far.
We bought plane tickets back to HCMC, so we'll be leaving Hanoi on the morning of the 1st, flying with Pacific Airlines. It's only a 2-hour flight, so we'll be back in HCMC in the afternoon, giving us ample time to do some last-minute shopping. Because we actually still have some money!
Coin, coin, coin
(Anonymous) 2002-08-28 07:09 am (UTC)(link)Rien de spécial de notre côté de la planète. J'espère que votre long vol de retour sera supportable et qu'il n'y aura pas trop de délai. (Ma belle pourrais-tu, juste pour savoir, me donner les détails de ton itinéraire de retour, incluant la compagnie aérienne.)
La canicule est enfin finie et les nuits sont enfin très fraîches. Dieu soit loué!
Becs. Becs.
Mamasan
Re: Coin, coin, coin
(Anonymous) 2002-08-28 02:38 pm (UTC)(link)je t'ai envoyé tout ce que je sais à propos de son itinéraire de retour.
j'ai utilisé l'adresse à 'magma.ca'
inquiète-toi pas, je m'occupe d'elle =)
G.